I live in SD and want to open a sole proprietorship business. I want my wife on the account. Will she be considered the owner with me or just an authorized signer? I want her to have ownership rights in case something would happen to me.
South Dakota is not a community property state. You should contact an attorney to determine whether a business jointly owned by spouses will be presumed to be a partnership under state laws. Your bank will probably not allow you to have a jointly-owned sole proprietorship account.
You may be able to set up an account with your wife as both a pay-on-death beneficiary and authorized signer. Check with your bank to see if that option is available to you.
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