985.02 Method of notification. (1) Except as otherwise provided by law, a legal notice shall be published in a newspaper likely to give notice in the area or to the person affected. Whenever the law requires publication in a newspaper published in a designated municipality or area and no newspaper that satisfies the requirements under s. 985.03 (1) (a) or (am) is published therein, publication shall be made in a newspaper likely to give notice. (2) If the governing body of a municipality elects to post under s. 985.05 (1) it shall post in the following manner: (a) The notice must be posted in at least 3 public places likely to give notice to persons affected or must be posted in at least one public place likely to give notice to persons affected and placed electronically on an Internet site maintained by the municipality. (b) The notice posted before the act or event requiring notice shall be posted and, if applicable, placed electronically, no later than the time specified for the first newspaper publication. (c) The notice posted after the act or event requiring notice shall be posted and, if applicable, placed electronically, within one week after the act or event. Actions of governing bodies posted after the act or event shall be effective upon posting.
May 22, 2026, are designated by NOTES. (Published 5-22-26)
985.02
LEGAL NOTICES
(d) The affidavit of the officer or person posting the legal notice containing the time, place and manner of the posting is presumptive evidence of the facts stated therein. (3) The newspaper that publishes a legal notice shall, in addition to newspaper publication, place an electronic copy of the legal notice at no additional charge on the publishing newspaper’s Internet site and on the Wisconsin newspapers legal notices Internet site. Every newspaper that publishes legal notices shall have an Internet site and include on its home page a prominent link to the newspaper’s legal notices section, the contents of which shall be available for viewing at no cost to the public. The newspaper’s Internet legal notice section shall include a link to the Wisconsin newspapers legal notices Internet site, as defined in s. 985.01 (7). History: 2007 a. 20; 2011 a. 228; 2015 a. 79; 2017 a. 282; 2021 a. 32. A county with a population of less than 250,000 is not required to designate an official newspaper. A county is not required to seek bids for the publication of legal notices. Even if a county does not competitively bid the publication of its own proceedings as provided in s. 59.14 (3), it may print its own proceedings or post them on its web site. A county may not, in lieu of publication in a printed newspaper or posting on a physical bulletin board, post its legal notices on its official web site. OAG 2-08.
985.03 Qualifications of newspapers. (1) (a) Except as provided in par. (am), no publisher of any newspaper in this state shall be awarded or be entitled to any compensation or fee for the publishing of any legal notice unless the newspaper has had a bona fide paid circulation and one of the following applies: 1m. The newspaper has been published at least once each week for at least 50 consecutive issues prior to the first publication of the notice in the city, village, or town where published, or the newspaper can verify to the department of administration using postal records that the newspaper has been circulated to the minimum number of print, digital, or electronic subscribers required under s. 985.01 (1b) prior to the issuance of its mailing permit from its place of publication, as set forth in s. 985.01 (5). 2m. The newspaper is a successor to a newspaper described in subd. 1m. and the successor newspaper has resumed publication following succession within 30 days. 3. The newspaper has merged or consolidated with one or more newspapers and one of the newspapers subject to the consolidation or merger has been continuously published at regular intervals of at least once each week for at least 50 issues each year for at least one year prior to the first publication of the notice. (am) If there is not a newspaper in a city, village, or town that satisfies the requirements under par. (a), the publisher of a newspaper that satisfies all of the following may be awarded or be entitled to compensation or a fee for the publishing of a legal notice: 1. The newspaper has been circulated at least once each week for at least 50 issues each year for one year prior to the first publication of the notice in the city, village, or town and publishing in the newspaper is likely to give notice in the area or to the affected person. 2. The newspaper is otherwise qualified under this section. (b) Suspension of publication resulting from the mobilization of troops being called to active duty with the armed forces, strike, lockout or damage, or destruction due to war, fire or act of God, shall not count as an interval in publication. (bm) A period of disqualification not to exceed 2 years due only to the place of publication shall not count as an interval in publication. (cm) A newspaper in order to be eligible under this section shall also file a certificate with the county clerk stating that it qualifies under this section and stating its place of publication. (2) Any person charged with the duty of causing legal notices to be published, and who causes any legal notice to be published in any newspaper not eligible to so publish under the requirements of sub. (1), or who fails to cause such legal notice to be
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published in any newspaper eligible under this section, may be fined not to exceed $100 for each offense. Each day in which a legal notice should have been but was not published as required by law shall constitute a separate offense hereunder. History: 1975 c. 341; 1989 a. 31; 2011 a. 228; 2017 a. 207 s. 5; 2017 a. 282; 2021 a. 32. This section does not violate equal protection. The term “paid circulation,” as a requirement under sub. (1) (a), is discussed. Community Newspapers v. West Allis, 156 Wis. 2d 350, 456 N.W.2d 646 (Ct. App. 1990). A municipality may not expend funds to publish legal notice in a “shopper” that does not meet the qualifications in s. 985.03 (1) (a). 71 Atty. Gen. 177.