In Wisconsin, the term “interested persons” in probate is defined by statute. It includes those with a legal or financial stake in the estate and is used to determine who must receive notices and who has standing to participate in the proceeding. The definition appears in Wis. Stat. § 851.21 and provides the framework for who can be heard and when their rights attach.
The group of interested persons includes the decedent’s heirs who would inherit under Wisconsin’s intestacy laws and the beneficiaries named in any document offered for probate as the decedent’s will. That category encompasses both the named beneficiaries themselves and trustees of inter vivos or testamentary trusts that are named as beneficiaries. It also includes beneficiaries of any trust created under a document offered for probate as the decedent’s will, persons nominated as personal representative in any document offered for probate as the will, and any additional persons the court designates by order as interested persons.
Wisconsin law also specifies when someone stops being an interested person. An heir who is not a beneficiary under the admitted will ceases to be an interested person when the will is admitted to probate (or when a statement of informal administration is entered). A beneficiary named in a proposed will who is not an heir ceases to be an interested person if probate of that will is denied. A nominated personal representative or testamentary trustee ceases to be an interested person if they are not appointed, if letters are denied, or upon discharge. A beneficiary under the will ceases to be an interested person after receiving full distribution of his or her share. A beneficiary of a testamentary trust ceases to be an interested person once the will is admitted to probate and the trustee is appointed. In addition, a parent barred from inheriting ceases to be an interested person.
There is a special exception for trust beneficiaries. Even after a trust beneficiary would normally cease to be an interested person, Wis. Stat. § 851.21(3) provides that the beneficiary remains an interested person if the trustee’s interests conflict with the trustee’s duties as personal representative, or if the trustee or another beneficiary cannot adequately represent the beneficiary under the doctrine of virtual representation. In short, “interested person” status is not permanent; it lasts only as long as the person’s legal interest in the probate remains, and once that interest is resolved, extinguished, or adequately represented under the statute, the person no longer has the rights afforded to interested persons in the case.
If you would like to discuss this matter more thoroughly, please reach out to our Madison Wisconsin Estate Planning attorneys. We are here to help!