Wisconsin divorce laws
Child
Support
 Wisconsin
family courts
put orders
in place
covering
the obligations
of child
support
and health
care.
Wisconsin
has a
Bureau of Child
Support,
which
provides
help
and guidance
for collection
and enforcement.
This
Office
is a division of the Department of Health and Social services. When
courts are asked to make determinations of support, they
will
typically
determine the answers to the following questions:
- the financial resources of the child;
- the standard of living the child would have enjoyed if the marriage had not been dissolved;
- the physical and emotional conditions and educational needs of the child;
- the financial resources, earning capacity, needs, and obligations of the parents;
- the age and health of the child, including the need for health insurance;
- the desirability of the parent having custody remaining in the home as a full-time parent;
- the cost of daycare to the parent having custody if that parent works outside the home or the value of the childcare services performed by that parent;
- the tax consequences to each parent;
- the award of substantial periods of physical placement to both parents (joint custody);
- any extraordinary travel expenses incurred in exercising the right to periods of physical placement;
- the best interests of the child; and
- any other relevant factors.
Residency 
In order for a divorce action to proceed, one of the marital partners must have lived in Wisconsin for a minimum of six months. For an individual to file in a particular county, they must demonstrate residency in that county for a minimum of thirty days.
| Divorce Myth: Following divorce, the children involved are better off in step families than in single-parent families. Reality: The evidence suggests that step families are no improvement over single-parent families, even though typically income levels are higher and there is a father figure in the home. Step families tend to have their own set of problems, including interpersonal conflicts with new parent figures and a very high risk of family breakup. |
Child
Custody
 Who
will
get custody
of the
children?
There
is usually
a verbal
tug-of-war
on this
issue
when
a divorce
process
begins.
Local
courts,
empowered
by Wisconsin
divorce
statutes,
are charged
with
making
this
decision
with
the "best
interests
of the
child" in mind. That having been said, the reality
is that
mothers
get physical
custody
awarded
to them
in about
75% of
the cases
(this
IS much
higher
than
in years
past,
reflecting
a positive shift
in the
perception
of Dads
as primary
care-givers).
Courts
can consider
the following
factors
(and/or
others
not detailed
here)
in making
a custody
award.
They
include:
- The wishes of the child’s parent or parents. This can be reflected in an agreement by the parents, a proposed agreement by them, or any prior custody arrangement.
- The wishes of the child. The child can express a desire personally or have it communicated by a court-appointed representative (for example a guardian ad litem). A child's desire can be considered but is not binding on the court.
- The relationship the child has with his her parent(s), siblings or any other person who may significantly affect the child’s best interest.
- The amount and quality of time that each parent has spent with the child
- The child’s adjustment to the home, school, religion and community.
- The age of the child and the child’s developmental and educational needs at different ages.
- Whether the mental or physical health of a party, minor child, or other person living in a proposed custodial household negatively affects the child’s intellectual, physical, or emotional well-being.
- The need for regularly occurring and meaningful periods of physical placement to provide predictability and stability for the child.
- The availability of public or private child care services.
- The cooperation and communication between the parties and whether either party unreasonably refuses to cooperate or communicate with the other party.
- Whether each party can support the other party’s relationship with the child, including encouraging and facilitating frequent and continuing contact with the child, or whether one party is likely to unreasonably interfere with the child’s continuing relationship with the other party.
- Whether there is evidence that a party engaged in abuse.
- Whether there is evidence of inter spousal battery.
- Whether either party has or had a significant problem with alcohol or drug abuse.
- The reports of appropriate professionals if admitted into evidence.
- Any other factors as the court may deem relevant.
| Divorce Myth: Because they are more cautious in entering marital relationships and also have a strong determination to avoid the possibility of divorce, children who grow up in a home broken by divorce tend to have as much success in their own marriages as those from intact homes. Reality: Marriages of the children of divorce actually have a much higher rate of divorce than the marriages of children from intact families. A major reason for this, according to a recent study, is that children learn about marital commitment or permanence by observing their parents. In the children of divorce, the sense of commitment to a lifelong marriage has been undermined. |
Grounds
for Divorce
In the State of Wisconsin, there is a single ground for divorce-irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. The parties need to communicate to the court that there is little or no chance of reconciliation.
Mediation
In
the absence of a an agreement
between the parents that
covers the custody of
the children, the Wisconsin
court may order mediation
to resolve differences.
Included may be a requirement
that the parents submit
to a parental education
program so that the parties
understand the effects
of divorce on children.
Alimony
 Alimony
or maintenance is
a hotly contested
issue during a divorce.
Both
sides
often
want diametrically-opposed
rulings. A court
will determine
by
examination the
needs of each spouse
and can award temporary
or permanent alimony
of it deems it
fair
and reasonable.
Note: if one parent
stayed home to
raise
children while
the
other worked outside
the home, the court
will often treat
the stay-at-home
efforts to be equal
with respect to
each parent's contribution
to the marriage.
Some of the factors
a court might examine
are:
- The financial resources of the party seeking support;
- The time necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the person seeking support to find appropriate employment;
- The standard of living established during the marriage;
- The duration of the marriage;
- The contribution of each spouse to the marriage;
- The age, physical and emotional condition of the spouse seeking support, and;
- The ability of the payer spouse to meet his needs while meeting the needs of the spouse seeking support.
| Divorce Myth: When parents don’t get along, children are better off if their parents divorce than if they stay together. Reality: A recent large-scale, long-term study suggests otherwise. While it found that parents’ marital unhappiness and discord have a broad negative impact on virtually every dimension of their children’s well-being, so does the fact of going through a divorce. In examining the negative impacts on children more closely, the study discovered that it was only the children in very high conflict homes who benefited from the conflict removal that divorce may bring. In lower-conflict marriages that end in divorce—and the study found that perhaps as many as two thirds of the divorces were of this type—the situation of the children was made much worse following a divorce. Based on the findings of this study, therefore, except in the minority of high-conflict marriages it is better for the children if their parents stay together and work out their problems than if they divorce. |
Waiting
Period
 Wisconsin
divorce
statutes
provide
that
120 days
must
have
elapsed
from
either
the time
the defendant
is served
with
the summons, or from
the date
of filing
of a
joint
petition
before any divorce is granted. Wisconsin continues to have on their
statutory
books the archaic law that no re-marriage may take place prior to
180 days after the divorce. So much for those that heal
prior
to a
lengthy divorce process.
Grandparents
Rights
Federal law allows grandparents to petition
the court for visitation. The court determines
if visitation is in the best interest of
the children. It is generally suggested that
grandparents petition the court (or have
the parents of the children agree to a visitation
schedule) during the divorce process, as
it often reduces or eliminates legal expenses
by avoiding a separate legal proceeding.
In determ |
