SDCL § 15-39-52: Entry fee--Summons not required--Statement to clerk or magistrate in lieu of pleading--Fee exemption.

The procedure shall include the beginning of actions with an entry fee of four dollars for actions up to one hundred dollars, ten dollars for actions up to one thousand dollars, and twenty dollars for actions over one thousand dollars, but without summons, and without requirement, except by special order of the magistrate or court, of other pleading than the written and signed statement to the clerk of courts, or magistrate. No fee may be required of the state, its officers, boards, agencies and commissions, or its political subdivisions, in any action commenced by the state or a political subdivision.