MN · rules
Minn. R. Evid. 617
Conversation with Deceased or Insane Person
A witness is not precluded from giving evidence of or concerning any conversations with, or admissions of a deceased or insane party or person merely because the witness is a party to the action or a person interested in the event thereof.
(Former Rule 616 redesignated as Rule 617 effective January 1, 1990.)
History
Committee Comment - 1989 This rule, former Minn. R. Evid. 616, was renumbered to permit the inclusion of Rule 616, Bias of Witness, in a manner consistent with the organization of the Uniform Rules of Evidence. This rule supersedes Minnesota Statutes 1974, section 595.04, which is known to the bench and bar of Minnesota as the "Dead Man's Statute." The purpose of this statute was to reduce the possibility of perjury in cases of this type. However, the statute was subject to all the problems and potential for injustice which are inherent in a rule which excludes otherwise admissible evidence. The evidentiary rule represents a considered opinion that the protection which the statute had offered to decedents' estates was not sufficient to justify the problems it created for honest litigants with legitimate claims. Much of the rationale for abolishing the "Dead Man's Statute" is set out in detail in In re Estate of Lea, 301 Minn. 253, 222 N.W.2d 92 (1974).
Provenance
- Source
- revisor.mn.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-15
- Edition
- 2026-09-14
- Content hash
6cc5bd6d937dd2021fef868d55061f3e79dc4c6f4c0db1c7a759ae44b8719b87
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.