Wisconsin Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

The court can still look at the "totality of circumstances" when granting a chapter 7 discharge even for non-consumer cases where means test does not need to be done. If a person is living with a millionaire and could easily pay off all the debt, then the judge has the authority to not grant a discharge.... Read More

In Wisconsin, at a harassment or domestic violence injunction hearing, testimony is presented by the parties and both of you are subject to cross examination by both of you or their attorneys. You can also bring witnesses, but the court has discretion to limit their testimony based on how much time is allocated  for the hearing. Exhibits may be presented as well, such as printed hard copies of threatening e mails or text messages sent, by example. Hire an attorney to help you.... Read More

While inherited and gifted property is exempt from property division under Wisconsin law, if you commingle separate property and mix it up as part of the marital estate, the exempt assets can become marital property. To keep gifted or inheritances out of the mix, you need to keep the property separate and distinct from the marital estate. That becomes problematic when you are talking about home furnishings  and personal property, that you and your wife may have used for a number of years. You can still argue it is exempt; it only becomes an issue if your wife contests it.... Read More

 Under Wisconsin‘s marital property law when getting a divorce, all property acquired  during the marriage or before  the marriage is subject to equal property division. However there are exceptions as  to receiving gifted and inherited property from a third-party. Clearly inheritances are exempt from property division. While there are some exceptions under hardship rules, generally you can expect that any property that you inherited, will be exempt from the marital estate. ... Read More

 The answer to your question is yes and no. The  yes part, deals with trading the equity in the house for the waiver of maintenance. That you can clearly do by an  agreement. However, you cannot waive or terminate child support as that is a right that belongs  to the children. You would have to explain in your settlement agreement why child support is being held open, and  that it would be subject to modification on a change of substantial circumstances in the future in the event that she wanted child support from you. ... Read More

If you have actually filed for divorce and served your wife with divorce papers, there’s a prohibition on the sale or disposition of marital assets in the middle of the divorce without consent of the other party or by further order of the court. While there are some exceptions, a person can be found in contempt of court for violating this order.... Read More

You own 1/2 interest in Tempe property free and clear, he owns a 1/2 interest subject to the mortgage. If he declares bankruptcy, he is no longer personally liable on the mortgage but his 1/2 interest is still subject to the mortgage. If he stops paying the mortgage, the usual result is the house is foreclosed and you split the proceeds with the lender.... Read More

Whether you have one lawyer or three lawyers, a lawyer cannot simply "abandon" a clien't case. If there is litigation involved, the lawyer would have been required to file a motion to withdraw from the case, which needs to be done, upon proper prior written notice to you and to seek court permisison to step out of the case. The attorney can do so, only if no harm comes to the client's case by stepping out. The rule is less clear when there is no litigation. It would still be my opinion however, that the lawyer should have provided advance written notice to you of their not being able to pursue the case any longer, whether the attorney was retiring or otherwise. While court permission would not be required to step out of the case, the lawyer owed you that duty. You should not have heard about it from the other lawyers, and can't really tell from your post, whether the attorney has caused harmed to your case by stepping out.  You don't indicate what type of case you were involved with, or why anyone would need three lawyers, instead of one good lawyer, but perhaps, that is a whole another issue. If you feel the lawyer did something unethical, file a grievance with the office of Lawyer Regulation (OLR) in Madison, WI, assuming this is a Wisconsin lawyer. ... Read More

It sounds like you are reading an abbreviated text from the Wisconsin circuit access site. I would assume that there is a legal document on file with the court where either she admitted personal service of  the initial divorce papers or by the affidavit of personal service by the process server.... Read More

You have a viable claim against the school in behalf of your child. However, there are strict rules that need to be followed. You must provide written notice of the claim within 120 days of the occurrence by having the notice personally served on the correct governmental entity. Failure to do so results in a waiver of the claim. The general statute of limitations is 2 years past the age of majority for filing a lawsuit for a minor child on an injury case, but the time line can be shortened if after serving the notice of claim, the claim is formally disallowed and that notice is properly served on the claimant. It shortens the time line to file a lawsuit to 6 months after the disallowance. You will also need to document your child’s injury (allergic reaction) by taking the child for medical treatment. You should consider hiring a personal injury lawyer ASAP to help you with your child’s claim.... Read More

No one can specifically answer your question on what "unwanted sex" means. I think the real key to your question is whether or not you forced your spouse, without their consent to have sex with you and which act or aggression may have resulted in your spouse receiving some type of physical injury. If you pinned your spouse down and held your hands against their wrist and forced them to have sex with you, that would be considered "unwanted sex."  The fact that it may have been a Saturday night and you had a bit too much to drink and wanted to have sex with your spouse, and they really didn't want to, but you begged and cajoled them until they finally gave in, may be "unwanted sex," but doesn't rise to the level of domestic violence suitable for the court to enter a domestic abuse violence restraining order.    ... Read More

It depends what county you live in, but most family court commissioner first hearings are held informally, and evidence and witnesses are typically not allowed. It would be best to check with the FCC's clerk in the county where your case is pending, if you do plan to bring witnesses on whether that would be allowed or not and what they would be testifying to in court. Most initial hearings are held informally, meaning, the parties are not under oath and there is no court reporter in the room, which is why bringing witnesses routinely, doesn't make too much sense. You need to know your case and what specifically you are asking the court to do that day. If you don't have a clear idea of what you want accomplished, the hearing will not go very well for you. Usually, initial hearings focus on "kids' issues," such as custody, placement child support and other financial issues affecting children or the family. If you don't have children involved, than what are you specifically asking the court to do? Since you give no facts at your post, it is difficult to answer your question in any more detail..... Read More

There are strict time guidelines for filing an EEOC complaint whether on the federal level or state level. Failure to file the grievance timely, may block your attempt now to pursue a discrimination case. It would be best to talk to an employment discrimination lawyer as soon as possible to determine if three years later, you can still pursue your case.... Read More

if the other parent has primary placement, defined as 75% of the time counted as overnights, the non-custodial parent under Wisconsin law is required to pay 25% of their gross monthly income if there are two children. You don’t indicate when child support was set and whether you were on disability when the order was set, or if this is something new. You also don’t indicate what your gross is, only perhaps your net. Under federal law, if you are receiving social security disability, your children would be receiving an amount directly per month and you would be able to file a motion with the court to have your payments adjusted accordingly.... Read More