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Estate Affidavit Guide

Wisconsin Termination of Decedent's Interest

If a bank told you an account is frozen and didn't explain what that actually means, you're not stuck, and you're not the only one this has happened to. A probate attorney would typically charge $1,500–$4,200+ to walk you through exactly what Wisconsin law already lets you do yourself. This guide is $37, one-time, and covers the same ground — the eligibility rule, the official form, and what to say if a bank or clerk pushes back.

Wisconsin's Termination of Decedent's Interest — the Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association's standard form HT-110/TOD-110, under Wis. Stat. §§ 867.045 and 867.046(2) — is how a surviving joint tenant, a surviving spouse with survivorship marital property, or a transfer-on-death beneficiary clears a deceased owner's name from the county record. It applies only to property that already passed outside probate at death. There is no dollar cap, no court, and no waiting period: the form is signed under oath before a notary and recorded with the register of deeds for $30. This is informational only, written by researchers, not attorneys.

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Why timing matters: No statute sets a deadline, but two dates matter. After 90 days, any interested person may file a § 867.046 termination if the spouse or beneficiary hasn't (§ 867.046(2m)). And a buyer or lender is protected only by what is recorded (§§ 867.045(5), 867.046(6)), so an unrecorded termination is the first thing a sale or refinance will stop on. Miss the window and the estate is generally pushed into full probate instead — a probate attorney typically charges $1,500–$4,200+ for work this guide is built to help you avoid.

Wisconsin's Termination of Decedent's Interest — no dollar cap

Wisconsin's Termination of Decedent's Interest has no dollar ceiling — eligibility instead turns on the specific conditions Wis. Stat. §§ 867.045, 867.046(2) sets out. There's no total to add up before you know whether it applies. Termination of Decedent's Interest is recorded at the county level — not filed with a court and not presented directly to a bank or DMV. The fill-in form is the Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association's standard HT-110/TOD-110, supplied free by each county register of deeds and posted at wrdaonline.org — an association form, not a state-issued one. See the how-to-file guide below for what the statute itself requires.

How to file, step by step

  1. 1

    Find the document that made the interest end at death

    Locate the recorded deed (joint tenancy, life estate, or transfer-on-death), the land contract or mortgage, or the marital property agreement. Its wording decides whether this filing applies and which statute it falls under.

  2. 2

    Choose the statute on the form

    Check § 867.045 for real property held in joint tenancy or a life estate, or a land-contract vendor's or mortgagee's interest. Check § 867.046 for survivorship marital property, a marital property agreement, or a transfer-on-death designation.

  3. 3

    Confirm you can sign

    Under § 867.045, any person interested in the property may sign. Under § 867.046, the spouse, the marital-property-agreement beneficiary, or the transfer-on-death beneficiary signs; any interested person may after 90 days if none of them has acted.

  4. 4

    Get the standard form from the register of deeds

    Use the Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association's "Termination of Decedent's Interest" form (HT-110 and TOD-110, Version 6.21.18) and its instructions (revised 12/15/2025), from your county register of deeds or the association's forms page. View source →

  5. 5

    Complete the form

    Enter the decedent's name, date of death, and address at death; the document under which the interest ended (recorded document number, or the unrecorded agreement); the property (the legal description from the recorded document, the current one if different, or a description of non-real property such as an account or security); the names and addresses of the owners immediately after death; and your interest in the property.

  6. 6

    Sign before a notary

    The declaration is signed and acknowledged before a notary. The statute requires the applicant to verify the information under oath.

  7. 7

    Gather the attachments

    A copy of the creating document (for an unrecorded agreement or trust, at least the first page, the page saying who receives the property, and the signature pages); for real property, the legal description if different and a copy of the tax bill for the year before death or the most recent bill if your county requires it; and a completed electronic real estate transfer return using exemption 11 (joint tenancy, life estate) or 11m (transfer-on-death deed). View source →

  8. 8

    Record it with the right county

    Record real property with the register of deeds in the county where it is located — a separate form for each county — and non-real property with the register of deeds in the county where the decedent last lived. The recording fee is $30. For a § 867.046 filing, the register of deeds also sends a copy to the circuit court unless the clerk of courts has told it that isn't necessary.

  9. 9

    Keep the recorded copy

    Once recorded, the form is evidence that the decedent's interest ended, with the same effect as a court certificate, and a later buyer or lender who relies on it in good faith takes title free of the estate's claims.

What it actually looks like

Sample pages from the guide

Real pages from the Wisconsin guide PDF. Click any page to enlarge.

Print-friendly, readable on a phone or tablet, and designed to be taken to the bank or clerk. Every operational claim cites the actual statute or official publication.

How this compares

Yes — the standard form Wisconsin families use is free (that's the Free standard form column below), though it isn't issued by the state itself. The $37 is for everything the free form leaves you to work out alone: the eligibility check, the filing sequence, and what to do when a bank, DMV, or clerk pushes back.

This guide Probate attorney Free standard form Doing nothing
Cost $37 $1,500–4,200+ $0 Eventually full probate, if the estate is never settled
Time to filed Same week 2–6 weeks If you can decode it alone Not until you act
Bank/DMV/clerk pushback script Yes Sometimes No n/a
Statute citations Yes n/a n/a n/a
Delivery time Instant download After consult + retainer Instant n/a

Attorney costs reflect typical Wisconsin probate-attorney retainers for this kind of filing.

The most-searched sticking point

What to do when a bank, DMV, or clerk pushes back

A facially valid filing still gets rejected on the first try more often than it should — usually because front-line staff have never processed one before, not because anything is actually wrong. This is the single biggest gap in every free state resource: none of them tell you what to actually say. The guide's Section 5 gives you the exact script and citation for each of these:

  • Register of deeds returns the form as incomplete
  • Register of deeds staff won't say which box or statute applies
  • Office says the wrong person signed
  • Office asks for a certified death certificate
  • The deed doesn't show survivorship, so the form doesn't fit
  • The property turns out to carry a Medicaid estate-recovery claim

Each one has a specific script and statutory citation behind it — not just "you're right, they're wrong," but exactly what to say and what document to hand over. That's in the guide.

If a bank, DMV, title company, or court clerk rejects your filing for a reason traceable to following this guide, you get a full refund.

Email the stated rejection reason to support@estateaffidavitguide.com within 30 days of purchase and we refund the full purchase price within one business day. No phone tag, no forms, no fight. Not covered: an estate that turns out to be over the dollar limit, a dispute among heirs, or a missing document unrelated to the filing itself. Changed your mind for any other reason? You have 7 days, no questions asked. Full refund policy.

Avoid these

5 common reasons filings get rejected

The decedent's interest did not end at death
The filing applies only where the decedent's interest terminated on death — joint tenancy, life estate, a land-contract vendor's or mortgagee's interest, survivorship marital property, a marital property agreement, or a transfer-on-death designation. Property the decedent owned alone or as a tenant in common is probate property instead. — Wis. Stat. §§ 867.045(1), 867.046(1m)-(2)
The person applying is not allowed to sign under § 867.046
For survivorship marital property, a marital property agreement, or a transfer-on-death designation, only the spouse or the named beneficiary may apply in the first 90 days after death; after that, any interested person may if none of them has started a confirmation. — Wis. Stat. § 867.046(2), (2m)
The creating document isn't attached
A copy of the deed that created the joint tenancy, life estate, or transfer-on-death interest — or the document for a transfer under §§ 705.10(1) or 705.18(2) — must accompany the application. — Wis. Stat. §§ 867.045(1)(k), 867.046(2)(j)-(L)
The real-property attachments are missing
For real property, the application needs the legal description and a copy of the property tax bill for the year before death or the most recent bill; the association's instructions also call for an electronic real estate transfer return. — Wis. Stat. §§ 867.045(1)(j), 867.046(2)(i); WRDA instructions (rev. 12/15/2025)
The application isn't signed and verified under oath
The applicant must sign and verify the information under oath before the register of deeds or another authorized officer; the association's form uses a notarial acknowledgment. — Wis. Stat. §§ 867.045(1)-(2), 867.046(2)-(3)

Before you record the Wisconsin Termination of Decedent's Interest

The recorded filing isn't automatically the end of the story — a title company or other relying party can still ask for more. This free one-pager has the real scenarios that come up after recording and what resolves each, emailed now. We'll also send a few short follow-ups over the next few weeks — then we stop. No ongoing newsletter.

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Questions

Frequently asked questions

What is a Termination of Decedent's Interest in Wisconsin?
A sworn form recorded with the county register of deeds that puts on the public record that a person who held property jointly, for life, or with a transfer-on-death beneficiary has died and that their interest has ended. It is authorized by Wis. Stat. §§ 867.045 and 867.046(2) and filed on the Wisconsin Register of Deeds Association's standard form HT-110/TOD-110.
Is this probate?
No. It applies only to property that already passed to the survivor or beneficiary automatically at death. No court is involved and no personal representative is appointed; for a § 867.046 filing the register of deeds simply sends a copy to the circuit court.
What does it cost?
The recording fee is $30 per document (Wis. Stat. § 59.43(2)(ag)). A transfer by survivorship or descent is exempt from the real estate transfer fee (§ 77.25(11)), as is a transfer-on-death deed (§ 77.25(11m)), but the electronic transfer return is still filed.
Do I need a death certificate?
The statute no longer requires one: 2019 Wisconsin Act 127, effective March 4, 2020, removed the certified death record from § 867.045(1). Some counties may still ask, so it can save a trip to bring one.
Who can sign the form?
For joint tenancy, a life estate, a land-contract vendor's or a mortgagee's interest (§ 867.045), any person interested in the property. For survivorship marital property, a marital property agreement, or a transfer-on-death designation (§ 867.046), the spouse or the named beneficiary — or any interested person once 90 days have passed and none of them has acted (§ 867.046(2m)).
Is there a deadline?
No statute sets one. The only time rule is § 867.046(2m)'s 90 days, after which any interested person may file. Recording matters most when the property is sold or refinanced, because a good-faith buyer or lender who relies on the recorded termination takes title free of the estate's claims (§§ 867.045(5), 867.046(6)).
What's the difference between this and a Transfer by Affidavit?
A Transfer by Affidavit (Wis. Stat. § 867.03) moves property that is going through probate — owned by the decedent alone — when that property totals $50,000 or less gross. A Termination of Decedent's Interest records that property already passed outside probate. A family can need both: for example, a house held in joint tenancy plus a small account in the decedent's name alone.
Can I use it for a bank account or securities?
Under § 867.046(2), yes, for an account or security that passed as survivorship marital property, under a marital property agreement, or by a transfer-on-death designation. The association's instructions say to record non-real property with the register of deeds in the county where the decedent last lived.
Does recording it end a Medicaid estate-recovery claim?
No. Wis. Stat. § 49.496(1)(cm) counts property that passed by joint tenancy, survivorship, or life estate as the decedent's property for recovery, and the Department of Health Services lists joint and transfer-on-death property among what it recovers from.
What if the deed doesn't create survivorship?
Then the decedent's share didn't pass automatically and this form can't move it. That share is probate property; if the probate property totals $50,000 or less gross, a Transfer by Affidavit can transfer it, and otherwise a court procedure is needed.
Which Wisconsin filing applies to my situation?
As a rule of thumb: property the decedent owned alone, going through probate, worth $50,000 or less gross in total, points to the Transfer by Affidavit (Wis. Stat. § 867.03) — presented to each bank or holder, or recorded for real estate. Property that already passed to a survivor automatically at death — a house in joint tenancy, survivorship marital property, a transfer-on-death deed — points to the Termination of Decedent's Interest (Wis. Stat. §§ 867.045, 867.046), recorded with the county register of deeds, with no dollar cap. They don't fork on a single fact: they cover different property, and one family can need both. Probate property over $50,000 gross needs a court procedure. This is informational only, not legal advice or a determination of which filing applies to your estate.
Does Wisconsin call this a 'small estate affidavit'?
Not officially. Wisconsin's statute calls it a "Transfer by affidavit" (Wis. Stat. § 867.03), and that is the term most Wisconsin searchers use; "small estate affidavit" is the common national name. The separate filing for joint and transfer-on-death property is a "Termination of Decedent's Interest."

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Primary sources

State sources

Every claim here cites the actual statute or an official publication — see them