706.03 Agents, officers and guardians.

(1) In this section:

(a) “Private corporation" means a corporation other than a public corporation.

(b) “Public corporation" means this state, a county, town, city or village in this state, a subunit of the state, county, town, city or village, a special purpose district in this state or any state or municipal authority or similar organization financed in whole or in part by public funds.

(1m) A conveyance signed by one purporting to act as agent for another shall be ineffective as against the purported principal unless such agent was expressly authorized, and unless the authorizing principal is identified as such in the conveyance or in the form of signature or acknowledgment. The burden of proving the authority of any such agent shall be upon the person asserting the same.

(2) Unless a different authorization is recorded under sub. (3) or is contained in the corporation's articles of incorporation, any one officer of a private corporation is authorized to sign conveyances in the corporate name. The absence of a corporate seal shall not invalidate any corporate conveyance. Public corporations shall authorize and execute conveyances as provided by law.

(3) Any private corporation may, by resolution of its governing board, duly adopted, certified and recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county in which a conveyance executed by such corporation is to be recorded, authorize by name or title one or more persons, whether or not officers of such corporation, to execute conveyances, either generally or with specified limitation, in the name and on behalf of such corporation. After adoption and recording of such resolution and until recording of a resolution amending or revoking the same, conveyances may be executed on behalf of such corporation only in accordance with the terms thereof.

(3m) A nonprofit association, as defined in s. 184.01 (2), may authorize a person to execute conveyances of estates or interests in real property by executing and filing a statement of authority under s. 184.05.

(4) A conveyance by a minor or an individual adjudicated incompetent in this state is effective only if executed by an authorized guardian on behalf of the minor or individual adjudicated incompetent. This restriction does not apply if the individual's adjudication of incompetency permits him or her to contract.

History: 1971 c. 228; 1975 c. 393; 1977 c. 428; 1989 a. 303; 1991 a. 16, 173; 1997 a. 140; 2005 a. 387.

When a partner's actions in a transaction on behalf of a partnership fall within the express provisions of s. 178.06 (1), the partner is “an agent of the partnership" and s. 178.06 (1) controls. When the partner's actions do not fall within those provisions the partner “purports to act as an agent" and this section controls. Wyss v. Albee, 193 Wis. 2d 101, 532 N.W.2d 444 (1995).

If the grantor's attorney-in-fact does not have authority to exercise the power of attorney in his or her own favor, any deed that the attorney-in-fact signs to himself or herself and others is void in its entirety under sub. (1m). Lucareli v. Lucareli, 2000 WI App 133, 237 Wis. 2d 487, 614 N.W.2d 60, 99-1679.