8-201.Dead-Man's Act.

The Dead-Man's Act applies when a lawsuit has a representative on one side, meaning someone suing or defending as the executor, administrator, heir, legatee, guardian, or guardian ad litem for a person who has died or is under a legal disability. In that setting, an adverse party or anyone directly interested in the outcome cannot testify on their own behalf about a conversation with the deceased or disabled person, or about an event that happened in that person's presence. The concern is obvious: the one person who could contradict the interested witness is no longer available to do so.

The section carves out four situations where that silence rule falls away. If someone testifies for the representative about a conversation or event, the adverse or interested party may testify about that same conversation or event in response. If the deceased or disabled person's own deposition comes into evidence for the representative, the other side may testify about the matters covered in it. Testimony that is competent under Section 8-401's account-book provision is not barred. And no one is ever barred from testifying about facts relating to a decedent's heirship.

The section also defines its key terms. A "person under legal disability" is someone the court in the pending case finds unable to testify because of mental illness, an intellectual disability, or deteriorated mentality. A "representative" covers executors, administrators, heirs, legatees, and their guardians or trustees, or a guardian or guardian ad litem for a disabled person. And a "person directly interested in the action" excludes someone who is interested only in a fiduciary role, such as an executor or trustee, whether or not they are paid for that role. The Act applies to proceedings filed on or after October 1, 1973.