Wis. Stat. » CHAPTER 157 — DISPOSITION OF HUMAN REMAINS
Wisconsin Statutes

Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (2026)

Definitions

✓ current as of July 2026
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157.061157.061 Definitions. Except as otherwise provided, in this subchapter:
157.061(1)(1) “Burial” means entombment, inurnment or interment.
157.061(1g)(1g) “Business day” has the meaning given in s. 421.301 (6).
157.061(1m)(1m) “Care fund” means one or more accounts or other investments established for the care of a cemetery.
157.061(1p)(1p) “Cemetery” means any land, including any mausoleum on the land, that is used or intended to be used, exclusively for the burial of human remains.
157.061(1r)(1r) “Cemetery association” means an association formed under s. 157.062.
157.061(2)(2) “Cemetery authority” means any person who owns or operates a cemetery specified in s. 157.065 (1).
157.061(2g)(2g) “Cemetery board” means the board created in s. 15.405 (3m).
157.061(2m)(2m) “Cemetery lot” means a grave or 2 or more contiguous graves and, when used in reference to the sale, purchase or ownership of a cemetery lot, includes the right to bury human remains in that cemetery lot.
157.061(3)(3) “Cemetery services and merchandise” means goods associated with the burial of human remains, including monuments, markers, nameplates, vases, and urns, and any services that are associated with supplying or delivering those goods or with the burial of human remains, including the burial or entombment, and that may be lawfully provided by a cemetery authority. The term does not include caskets or outer burial containers.
157.061(4)(4) “Dedicated” means platted as a cemetery.
157.061(7m)(7m) “Grave” means a piece of land that is used or intended to be used for an underground burial of human remains, other than a burial in an underground mausoleum space.
157.061(8)(8) “Human remains” means the body of a deceased individual that is in any stage of decomposition or has been cremated.
157.061(9)(9) “Mausoleum” means a building, structure or part of a building or structure that is used or intended to be used for the burial of human remains.
157.061(10)(10) “Mausoleum space” means a niche, crypt or specific place in a mausoleum that contains or is intended to contain human remains.
157.061(11)(11) “Municipality” means town, village or city.
157.061(11g)(11g) “Outer burial container” means any container that is placed or intended to be placed into the burial excavation of a grave and into which a casket is placed or intended to be placed at the time of burial.
157.061(11r)(11r) “Payment of principal” means the portion of a payment for the purchase of a cemetery lot, cemetery services and merchandise, or a mausoleum space that represents the principal amount owed by the purchaser for the cemetery lot, cemetery services and merchandise, or mausoleum space, and does not include any portion of the payment that represents any taxes, finance or interest charges, administrative fees, or insurance premiums.
157.061(12)(12) “Preneed sales contract” means an agreement for the sale of cemetery services and merchandise that is to be delivered after the date of the initial payment for the cemetery services and merchandise, or for the sale of an undeveloped space.
157.061(13)(13) “Preneed trust fund” means an account or other investment in which a portion of the cemetery services and merchandise received under a preneed sales contract is deposited.
157.061(13m)(13m) “Professional land surveyor” means a professional land surveyor licensed under ch. 443.
157.061(14)(14) “Public mausoleum” means a mausoleum in which at least one mausoleum space is offered for sale to the general public.
157.061(15)(15) “Religious association” means any church, synagogue, or mosque; any religious society organized under ch. 187; and any corporation whose articles of organization provide, subject to s. 182.030, that it shall be under the supervision and control of a church, synagogue, mosque, or religious society.
157.061(16)(16) “Sale” means a transfer for consideration of any interest in ownership, title or right to use.
157.061(17)(17) “Undeveloped space” means a mausoleum space that is not ready for the burial of human remains on the date of the sale of the mausoleum space.
157.061 HistoryHistory: 1983 a. 189; 1985 a. 316 s. 18; Stats. 1985 s. 157.061; 1989 a. 307; 1991 a. 269; 1997 a. 188; 1999 a. 32; 2005 a. 25; 2011 a. 32; 2013 a. 358; 2015 a. 237; 2017 a. 365 s. 110.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1991–2018 · leading case: DeWitt v. Ferries, 921 N.W.2d 188 (Wis. 2018).
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DeWitt v. Ferries, 921 N.W.2d 188 (Wis. 2018). · cites it 13× “It concluded that the parcel falls within the definition of a cemetery as set forth in Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (1p). In reaching that conclusion, the circuit court limited its explanation to the following: "The conveyance of 1892 expressly states 'Excepting one acre now used as [a]…”
State v. Grunke, 2007 WI App 198 (Wis. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 2× “41 (2) as a "natural person," and that a corpse is "human remains" as defined under Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (8), rather than a natural person.”
Melvin DeWitt v. Earl G. Ferries, 2018 WI 117 (Wis. 2018). · cites it 12× “" Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (1). "Human remains" are defined as "the body of a deceased individual that is in any stage of decomposition or has been cremated.”
Krawcyzk v. Bank of Sun Prairie, 468 N.W.2d 773 (Wis. Ct. App. 1991). “The bank contends that by applying the statutory definition of "corporation" in sec. 157.061(2), Stats., to the two-word phrase "cemetery corporation" in sec.”
— Wis. Stat. § 157.061(1) — 2 cases
DeWitt v. Ferries, 921 N.W.2d 188 (Wis. 2018). “It concluded that the parcel falls within the definition of a cemetery as set forth in Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (1p). In reaching that conclusion, the circuit court limited its explanation to the following: "The conveyance of 1892 expressly states 'Excepting one acre now used as [a]…”
Melvin DeWitt v. Earl G. Ferries, 2018 WI 117 (Wis. 2018). “" Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (1). "Human remains" are defined as "the body of a deceased individual that is in any stage of decomposition or has been cremated.”
— Wis. Stat. § 157.061(1p) — 2 cases
DeWitt v. Ferries, 921 N.W.2d 188 (Wis. 2018). “It concluded that the parcel falls within the definition of a cemetery as set forth in Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (1p). In reaching that conclusion, the circuit court limited its explanation to the following: "The conveyance of 1892 expressly states 'Excepting one acre now used as [a]…”
Melvin DeWitt v. Earl G. Ferries, 2018 WI 117 (Wis. 2018). “" Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (1). "Human remains" are defined as "the body of a deceased individual that is in any stage of decomposition or has been cremated.”
— Wis. Stat. § 157.061(2) — 1 case
Krawcyzk v. Bank of Sun Prairie, 468 N.W.2d 773 (Wis. Ct. App. 1991). “The bank contends that by applying the statutory definition of "corporation" in sec. 157.061(2), Stats., to the two-word phrase "cemetery corporation" in sec.”
— Wis. Stat. § 157.061(8) — 2 cases
DeWitt v. Ferries, 921 N.W.2d 188 (Wis. 2018). “It concluded that the parcel falls within the definition of a cemetery as set forth in Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (1p). In reaching that conclusion, the circuit court limited its explanation to the following: "The conveyance of 1892 expressly states 'Excepting one acre now used as [a]…”
Melvin DeWitt v. Earl G. Ferries, 2018 WI 117 (Wis. 2018). “" Wis. Stat. § 157.061 (1). "Human remains" are defined as "the body of a deceased individual that is in any stage of decomposition or has been cremated.”
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