dead man's statute

dead man's statute

A law of evidence employed in many states. One version says that a witness may not testify about oral statements made by a decedent (someone who has died) if the effect of the testimony would be to make the decedent's estate larger or smaller, even if the witness would not benefit one way or the other. Another version says witnesses cannot testify about statements made by a decedent if the witness would benefit from those alleged statements.(Be sure to clearly understand which is being used in a specific case.)