2025 Wisconsin Statutes & Annotations
Chapter 879 - Probate — notice, appearance, appeal and miscellaneous procedure.
879.31 - Relief from judgment or order.
879.31 Relief from judgment or order. On motion, notice to adverse parties and hearing, the court may relieve a party or legal representative from a judgment or orders of the court or the party’s stipulation as provided in s. 806.07.
History: 1983 a. 219.
The probate code expressly incorporates s. 806.07 as the applicable standard for deciding whether to reopen an estate. When deciding whether to grant a party’s request to reopen an estate that has been closed for a lengthy period of time, the court looks to the amount of time that has passed since an estate has closed, the party’s interaction with the closed estate paired with the relief sought by challenging the estate’s administration, whether alternative and more appropriate methods were available to obtain that relief, and other intervening circumstances that would make it inequitable to reopen the estate for the relief sought. Kaiser v. Townline CTH-N LLC, 2024 WI App 59, 414 Wis. 2d 50, 13 N.W.3d 251, 23-0058.
