Wisconsin Statutes 853.07 – Witnesses
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Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes 853.07
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Following: when used by way of reference to any statute section, means the section next following that in which the reference is made. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
- Person: includes all partnerships, associations and bodies politic or corporate. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Personal representative: means a person, however denominated, who is authorized to administer a decedent's estate. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
- Probate: Proving a will
- Testator: A male person who leaves a will at death.
- Testify: Answer questions in court.
- Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
(1) Any person who, at the time of execution of the will, would be competent to testify as a witness in court to the facts relating to execution may act as a witness to the will. Subsequent incompetency of a witness is not a ground for denial of probate if the execution of the will is otherwise satisfactorily proved.
(2)
(a) Subject to pars. (b) and (c), a will is not invalidated because it is signed by an interested witness.
(b) Except as provided in par. (c), any beneficial provisions of the will for a witness or the spouse of a witness are invalid to the extent that the aggregate value of those provisions exceeds what the witness or spouse would have received had the testator died intestate. Valuation is to be made as of testator’s death.
(c) Paragraph (b) does not apply if any of the following applies:
1. The will is also signed by 2 disinterested witnesses.
2. There is sufficient evidence that the testator intended the full transfer to take effect.
(3) An attesting witness is interested only if the will gives to the witness or spouse some personal and beneficial interest. The following are not interests which are personal and beneficial:
(a) A provision for employment as personal representative or trustee or in some other capacity after death of the testator and a provision for compensation at a rate or in an amount not greater than that usual for the services to be performed;
(b) A provision which would have conferred no benefit if the testator had died immediately following execution of the will.