Wisconsin Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

The Wisconsin annulment statute offers specific reasons and factors that would entitle a person to an annulment. Unfortunately, the length of the marriage is not one of those factors. I am sorry your husband is cheating on you, but from the brief facts you have posted, your legal remedy would be separation or divorce.... Read Answer

In order for a third party to have custody of a child, both parents would need to be found unfit or otherwise incapable of taking care of the child. The court would first look towards immediate family members, in the absence of your having a Will or Trust that would nominate this person who has acted in a "grandparent like" relationship to your child. Whether, she could obtain legal guardianship of the child over the father, or other immediate family members would probably be difficult for her in a legal challenge to your wanting her to have custody should something happen to you. Also, she can petition for visitation rights, under Wisconsin's so called "grandparent's statute," assuming there is an underlying family court action and further that you and or the father object to her seeing the child. That doesn't seem to be the case here from your post.... Read Answer

I am sorry what happened to your mother and your loss. I would be suspicious as to the motiviation of your step father.  Is there litigation involved? You can check the progress of the case by going to the Wisconsin circuit court access site. If you have questions on the case, you should contact the attorneys handling the case for your mother.... Read Answer

While no one can offer you any guarantees or promises, and without knowing all the facts, if you are the biological father and having been adjudicated the same in court (unless you were married and divorced) and further, assuming you are a fit and proper person to have custody of the child, the preference in the law is that the child goes to another parent as opposed to third party placement.... Read Answer

Call the personal injury lawyer that handled the case. Generally, any settlement of $5,000 or less must still be escrowed in a safe trust account and turned over to the child when they turn 18. If  more than $5,000, at least under Wisconsin law, you have to go to court and seek approvel of the minor settlement, with the money kept in an trust or escrow account again, for the well being of the child and only turned over to the child when they turn 18. How did your parents get their hands on your money if it was to have been escrowed for you?... Read Answer

When the divorce gets filed, file an order to show cause and affidavit for first hearing and request the return of your items. Make a list of specifically what you want or need back on a temporary basis during the 9 months it may take to go thru a divorce. Further, just because she "took everything," doesn't mean she gets to keep everything. The court can order an appraisal on all items she took in her possession and require her to pay you for half the value of all of those items. I would also take photographs to show the court commissioner how she stripped the place completely bare. Courts do not appreciate that kind of behavior.  Part of asking for an initial court date also involves getting custody and placement rights for your children.... Read Answer

Certain motions must be personally served, such as contempt and order to show cause hearings. General motions may be mailed. Mail the motion for support out to his last known address with an affidavit of mailing. While I can't promise you it holds up in court, it may, as there is no technical legal requirement for a general motion for support to be personally served.... Read Answer

I am very sorry to hear about your mother. It would be impossible to even remotely answer your question without more facts. How old was your mother? Why was is she in the hospital? how long was she in the hospital? what was the cause of her death? What was her diagnosis upon admission? What was her underlying medical condition and history at the time of admission. What tests do you claim weren't done that should have been done? On top of that, medical malpractice cases are exceedingly difficult to pursue and win in Wisconsin. I wrote a blog under personal injuries discussing this very topic at our law firm's web site. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel did an essay on it as well about a year ago that you google. In order to pursue the case, you will need to obtain all of your mother's prior medical records relating to her condition that took her into the hospital and of course, the hospital records for her stay. That may be problematic at this point, as more likely than not, the doctor and hospital will not release her records to you, without proper legal authority. That may require you have yourself appointed as the executor of her estate or if no estate, at least petition for a special administration. In the capacity as special administrator, the hospital would have to release her records to you. There also was a previous limitation under the wrongful death statute that would bar an adult child for pursuing a wrongful death claim of a parent caused by medical malpractice in Wisconsin. I am not sure that rule has been revoked.  The statute of liimitations to sue for medical malpractice in Wisconsin, and wrongful death under the recent law change is 3 years. Failure to file the lawsuit within three years from the date of the accident would forever bar the claim.... Read Answer

Medical malpractice cases in Wisconsin are exceedingly difficult to pursue and win. Most lawyers shy away from handling these cases anymore for a variety of reasons, including, but not limited to; (1) there are caps on non-economic damages in Wisconsin (2) 9/10 cases are lost at trial to a defense verdict for the doctor or hospital and (3) it can cost as much as $100,000 in expert fees and court costs to pursue such a case. Unless you have long term permanent damage and catastrophic injuries, you probably are not going to find any attorney willing to look into the case. I wrote a blog at our law firm's web site on the difficulties of pursuing medical malpractice cases in Wisconsin and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did an article about the difficulties as well about 1 to 2 years ago. If you feel you were wronged, you will need to obtain all of your medical records pertaining to the incident to have them reviewed by a malpractice lawyer. The statute of limitations is 3 years to sue from the date of the incident. Failure to file a lawsuit within three years from the occurrence, would forever bar your claim. This is under WI law.... Read Answer

If the car is with the person who has the restraining order against you, the answer to your question is no. You would need to hire an attorney and your attorney can contact the victim for purposes of arranging to get your car, or if they are unlawfully holding the car from you, having nothiing to do with the current disorderly conduct or DV charge against you, you have the option if the car is valued under $10,000, of filing a small claims lawsuit for the return of the vehicle or a large claims lawsuit if over $10,000 for the return of the vehicle. To avoid the victim claiming you are contactinng them in any way, use a lawyer to help you.... Read Answer

I am sorry to hear what happened to your mother in law.  Medical malpractice cases in Wisconsin are exceedingly difficult to pursue and win. 9/10 cases are verdicts for the doctor or hospital at trial. There are caps on non-economic damages, so most personal injury lawyers shy away from taking medical malpractice cases anymore. I wrote a blog on the difficiulties of pursuing a medical malpractice case in WI at our web site. The Milwaukee journal sentinel did an excellent article on the subject a year or two back that you can google and read.  If you feel strongly that your mother in law was harmed,  she will need to obtain all of her medical and hospital records involving the treatment and her care, and provide those records to a malpractice attorney. The attorney will review them and if they think there is something there, we will hire an outside medical consultant to review the case to determine if your mother in law has a viable claim. The statute of limitations for medical malpractice in Wisconsin is three years to start a  lawsuit from the occurrence. Failure to file the lawsuit within three years would forever bar the claim.... Read Answer

What are the ages of the two children (your step son and your daughter)? Assuming that your husband has placement of his step son, or visitation rights, I think it would be wise not to have the step son and your daughter together at the same time, at least until the investigation is completed to determine what, if anything happened between them. The answer to your question is yes; if the court has a concern that your daughter is at risk in your home because of the step son, the court would have the right to modify the placement schedule or restrict your placement with your daughter to periods of time and places where the child woould be protected and without the step son present.... Read Answer

You can sue for anything in this country, but just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Medical malpractice cases are exceedingly difficult to pursue and win in Wisconsin. I wrote a blog about the difficulties at our law firm's web site under persoanl injury issues. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel wrtoe an excellent essay about it as well, perhaps one or two years ago that you can google and read. Most malpractice cases can cost up to $100,000 in costs and expert fees to litigate, so the damages have to be enormous to have a malpractice lawyer show interest. Further, 9/10 trials result in verdicts in favor of the doctor or hospital. There are caps in Wisconsin on non-economic damages, which again, curtails most attorneys interest in pursuing these cases anymore. That issue is actually on appeal before the WI supreme court. The statute of limitations to sue for medical malpractice in WI is 3 years from the date of the occurrence. Failure to file a lawsuit within 3 years would forever bar the claim. If you feel you were wronged, and have permanent damage as a result, gather up all of your mediical and hospital records and have them reviewed by a malpractice lawyer. If they think you possibly have a case, they will hire an outside medical expert to review your records to determine if you have a viable claim.... Read Answer

While no one can offer you any guarantees or promises, given the history of you have posted, I doubt that the mother would be allowed equal placement of the child. She may be afforded some type of limited visitation or placement, that could be court ordered supervised for the protection of the child. If there is an issue as to placement, the court willl appoint a guardian ad litem and make recommendations to the court about her visitation. The GAL would interview both parties and if the child is age appropriate, the child(ren) as well. Custody refers to decision making. I assume you meant placement by your question posed. ... Read Answer

If the child was born out of wedlock, is paternity established? Under Wisconsin law, the (alleged) father would have no legal rights to the child under paternity is established and court orders are set on custody and placement. I realize that doesn't specifically answer your question. The answer to your question is generally no. The court will first order the parties to mediate any disputed custody and placement issues and only if mediation is unsuccesful will appoint a guardian ad litem for the twins. While there may be some exceptions to doing it that way, that is the usual course of aciton.... Read Answer

If you file a counterclaim for legal separation and they filed for divorce, at some point, the trial court will need to make a decision on how  the case should proceed. I am going to speculate that since the divorce was filed first by her and if she doesn't want to stay married to you, the court would grant the divorce over the legal separation, but obviously, the court has discretion to decide the case either way.... Read Answer

The insurance company (in your case, Progressive) pays for the damages to your car. They don't typically repair the car. A body shop would have made those repairs. Do you know what body shop they may have used and whether you were told why after market parts were used for the repairs. Is there some logical reason, such as the age of your car made it difficult to find the rirght new car parts for it?... Read Answer

You have two hurtles to get by: (1) convincing the court you should have primary placement of the child and (2) convincing the court you should be allowed to remove her out of the state and relocate to Texas. You will need to file a motion with the court (here in Wisconsin, presumably) to make those requests. If there are custody orders entered  previously in Wisconsin, under the Uniform child custody act (UCCJEA), Wisconsin has "exclusive continuing jurisdcition" for custody purposes as long as the mother and child remain in the state here.  ... Read Answer

Most legal things do not happen "autmoatically." Once the baby is born, if there is a belief or suspicion that the mother is unfit or otherwise incapable of taking care of the child, child protective services will need to be informed, and if necessary, a CHIPS petition can be filed (child in need of protective placement), Since the child is born out of wedlock, the assumed biological father, has no legal rights to the child until paterntiy can be established and court order made as to custody and placement. Paternity can be established by either both parties signing a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity or by either party, or the state (if assistance) filing a formal paterntiy action in court.... Read Answer

1. On property division- All property acquired before or during the marriage, except by way of gift or inheritance from a third party is presumed to be divided equally at the time of the divorce. The court has the right to deviate from 50/50 property division based on the factors listed at s. 767.61, including, in your case, the length of the marriage and proprty brought into the mariage by either party. Another factor (not specifically listed in the statute)  but supported by case law, are your years separated, because you are separated nearly 1/2 the length of time you are married. Certainly 5 years is a short term marriage, so the court very well may deviate from 50/50 and give you back credit for property you can show you owned prior to marriage, and only include any enhanced or increased value of those assets, if any, during the marriage. 2. on custody. On the second issue, the court cannot give him placement rights to your children as they are not his. However, he has the right to petition under Wisconson's so called "grandparents' statute, " and request visitation rights to the children, if it can be found that it is in your children's best interest  to have visitation with him. ... Read Answer

Understand even if she had a Will or Trust document to appoint you as guardian, that cannot override the father’s right to have placement of the child. You would need to challenge him to prove he is unfit or otherwise incapable of taking care of the child to prevail in a custody battle with the child’s father.... Read Answer