813.22.Uniform absence as evidence of death and absentee’s property act; insurance policy provisions invalid.

Section 813.22 opens Wisconsin’s version of the Uniform Absence as Evidence of Death and Absentee’s Property Act by clearing away a potential obstacle: an insurer’s own attempt to control how absence or death is proven. Any provision in a life or accident insurance policy, or in the charter or bylaws of a mutual or fraternal insurance association, that addresses the effect to be given to evidence of absence or death is not valid.

The section then protects a beneficiary who wants to rely on an insured’s absence as evidence of death, even where the policy, charter, or bylaws require suit within one year or some other period after the insured’s death. In that situation, the beneficiary may bring the action within the ordinary statutory limitations period for actions on written contracts, running from the date the beneficiary gives the insurer written notice of the absence. That notice itself must be given within one year of when the beneficiary last heard from the absent insured. If the beneficiary never gives that notice, the limitations period instead runs from the time the beneficiary last heard from the absent person.