2019 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 244. Uniform power of attorney for finances and property.
244.02 Definitions.

244.02 Definitions. In this chapter:

(1) “Agent" means a person granted authority to act for a principal under a power of attorney, whether denominated an agent, attorney-in-fact, or otherwise.

(2) “Domestic partner" has the meaning given in s. 770.01 (1).

(3) “Durable power of attorney" means a power of attorney that is not terminated by the principal's incapacity.

(4) “Electronic" means relating to technology having electrical, digital, magnetic, wireless, optical, electromagnetic, or similar capabilities.

(5) “Genuine" means free of forgery or counterfeiting.

(6) “Good faith" means honesty in fact.

(7) “Incapacity" means inability of an individual to manage property, finances, or business affairs because the individual meets one of the following criteria:

(a) Has an impairment in the ability to receive and evaluate information or make or communicate decisions even with the use of technological assistance.

(b) Is missing.

(c) Is detained, including incarceration in a correctional facility.

(d) Is outside the United States and unable to return.

(8) “Person" means an individual, corporation, business trust, estate, trust, partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, public corporation, government or governmental subdivision, agency, or instrumentality, or any other legal or commercial entity.

(9) “Power of attorney" means a writing or other record that grants authority to an agent to act in the place of the principal, whether or not the term power of attorney is used.

(10) “Presently exercisable general power of appointment," with respect to property or a property interest subject to a power of appointment, means power exercisable at the time in question to vest absolute ownership in the principal individually, the principal's estate, the principal's creditors, or the creditors of the principal's estate. The term does not include a power exercisable in a fiduciary capacity or only by will. The term includes a power of appointment that is exercisable only when one of the following circumstances exists:

(a) The occurrence of a specified event.

(b) The satisfaction of an ascertainable standard.

(c) The passage of a specified period only after the occurrence of the specified event, the satisfaction of the ascertainable standard, or the passage of the specified period.

(11) “Principal" means an individual who grants authority to an agent in a power of attorney.

(12) “Property" means anything that may be the subject of ownership, including real or personal property, digital property, as defined in s. 711.03 (10), or any interest or right in that property.

(13) “Record" means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form.

(14) “Sign" means, with present intent to authenticate or adopt a record, any of the following:

(a) To execute or adopt a tangible symbol.

(b) To attach to or logically associate with the record an electronic sound, symbol, or process.

(15) “Stocks and bonds" means stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and all other types of securities and financial instruments, whether held directly, indirectly, or in any other manner. The term does not include commodity futures contracts and call or put options on stocks or stock indexes.

History: 2009 a. 319; 2015 a. 300.