Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Wisconsin

The executor (in Wisconsin this person is called the Personal Representative) has the following general powers:

Section 857.03 Powers and duties of personal representative; in general

(1) The personal representative shall collect, inventory and possess all the decedent's estate; collect all income and rent from decedent's estate; manage the estate and, when reasonable, maintain in force or purchase casualty and liability insurance; contest all claims except claims which the personal representative believes are valid; pay and discharge out of the estate all expenses of administration, taxes, charges, claims allowed by the court, or such payment on claims as directed by the court; render accurate accounts; make distribution and do any other things directed by the court or required by law.

(2m) The surviving spouse and the personal representative may petition the court to approve an exchange of interests in marital property as provided in s. 766.31 (3) (b) 3.

History: 1975 c. 331, 421; 1987 a. 393; 2005 a. 216.

Cross-reference: Ch. 777 deals generally with actions by and against personal representatives.

Cross-reference: See s. 70.22, which deals with assessment of personal property taxes on property in decedent's estates.

Cross-reference: See s. 71.13 (2), which requires the personal representative to file with the assessor of incomes such withholding tax returns (reports) for wages paid, sales tax returns and income tax returns as are due from the decedent and his estate.

As the holder of legal title to the assets of the estate, the personal representative has standing to bring a constitutional challenge against the statute upon which the claim of the appellant is based. Estate of Peterson, 66 Wis. 2d 535, 225 N.W.2d 644 (1975).

The personal representative's failure to inform the trial court that the high bidders in a sale of the testator's property had been occasional clients did not constitute a breach of fiduciary duty when the sale was publicly advertised, conducted under sealed bid, and authorized as to procedure by both the court and estate beneficiaries. Estate of Philbrick, 68 Wis. 2d 776, 229 N.W.2d 573 91975).

In the absence of a statute or a decedent's written directions, the burden of the federal and state estate taxes attributable to probate and nonprobate assets falls on the residue of the estate. The rationale for the "residuary rule" has generally been that the decedent intended property transferred outside probate to be free of the usual burdens imposed on the probate estate. Estate of Sheppard v. Schleis, 2010 WI 32, 324 Wis. 2d 41, 782 N.W.2d 85, 09-1021.

I hope this gives you some direction.