Section 851.21. Person interested.

 

(1)   Who are “persons interested". The following are “persons interested":

(a) An heir of the decedent.

(b) Except as provided in s. 853.32 (2) (e) , a beneficiary named in any document offered for probate as the will of the decedent and includes a person named or acting as a trustee of any trust, inter vivos or testamentary, named as a beneficiary.

(c) A beneficiary of a trust created under any document offered for probate as the will of the decedent.

(d) A person named as personal representative in any document offered for probate as the will of the decedent.

(e) Additional persons as the court by order includes as “interested persons".

(2)   Who cease to be “persons interested". The following cease to be “persons interested":

(a) An heir of the decedent who is not a beneficiary under the will of the decedent, upon admission of the will to probate under ch. 856 or entry of a statement of informal administration under ch. 865 .

(b) A beneficiary named in documents offered for probate as the will of the decedent who is not an heir of the decedent, upon denial of probate to such documents.

(c) A person named as personal representative or testamentary trustee in the will of the decedent, upon the person's failure to be appointed, the denial of letters by the court, or upon the person's discharge.

(d) A beneficiary under the will of a decedent, upon full distribution to the beneficiary.

(e) A beneficiary of a trust created under documents offered for probate as the will of the decedent upon the admission of the decedent's will to probate and the issuance of letters of trust to the trustee.

(f) A parent who is barred from inheriting from his or her child's intestate estate under s. 852.14 (3) .

(3)   Additional persons interested. In any proceedings in which the interest of a trustee of an inter vivos or testamentary trust, including a trust under documents offered for probate, conflicts with the trustee's duty as a personal representative, or in which the trustee or competent beneficiary of the trust cannot represent the interest of the beneficiary under the doctrine of virtual representation, the beneficiary is a person interested in the proceedings.

1973 c. 39 ; 1993 a. 486 ; 2005 a. 216 ; 2015 a. 224 . A trust for the benefit of grandchildren includes an illegitimate child whose parents entered into a void marriage after the child's birth. In re Trust of Parsons, 56 Wis. 2d 613 , 203 N.W.2d 40 (1973). Testamentary dispositions to “children" as including illegitimates — a change in Wisconsin law? 57 MLR 174.