Wisconsin Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

I just wrote a blog on this very topic at our law firm's web site. From a technical perspective, secondary income (second job/ part time job/ overtime) is income under Wisconsin DCF guidelines for purposes of support; whether such income will be included by the court is purely discretionary. When it comes to a part time job, it my depend  on how long you have worked at the job. If for a long period of time and your family has become dependent on that secondary stream of income, the more likely it will be included. If it is a brand new job, and you are doing it solely to help ends meet, and further, your family has not been dependent on it, the less likely the court may decide to include it.... Read More

You don't state whether anything was stolen from your room, so I assume that you suffered no damages from the hotel's negligence, in which case any lawsuit you bring is likely to be dismissied on the pleadings.  That being said, the hotel may still wish to avoid the ill feelings that the incident has caused, not to mention the bad publicity which it would garner if you made your experience known on yelp, facebook, etc., so it may be willing to compensate you in some way.... Read More

Why not send him a certified letter, return receipt requested, or else an email (with return receipt if possible on your program) notifying him of the appointment? Most MSA's and divorce decrees require notifying the other spouse having joint custody about non-emergency health care appointments in advance. And whether it is required or not, it is a good thing to do.... Read More

I would think that a release of your children's medical records to your spouse or in custody litigation, to a court appointed guardian ad litem, would include only their records, and not contain your personal medical records. For the release of your medical records, a proper release signed by you would be required.... Read More

Premises liability cases are exceedingly difficult to pursue and win in Wisconsin. Insurance companies routinely deny the claim and force injured persons to file a lawsuit and take the case to trial. To pursue such a case, as a starting point, you will need to have photographs of what made you fall or independent witnesses who would be able to come to court with you to testify as to the clutter conditions which you have described. The  statute of limitations is 3 years to sue for personal injury in Wisconsin. Failure to file a lawsuit within the 3 years  from the date of the occurrence, will forever bar your claim.... Read More

I don't think you mean 'retribution.' I think you mean 'damages.' Some items of damages are medical bills, lost wages, additional expense to have others do things for you which you would usually do for yourself, pain and suffering (past and future), loss of enjoyment of life (if you have been disabled from doing some things you liked), and there are others. Don't count on someone who punches you in a bar being able to pay a judgment.... Read More

How about a detailed letter set to your local postmaster, certified mail, return receipt requested. Explain the problem calmly, and ask him or her to straighten it out. If that will not work (although I suspect it will), write the Inspector General of the USPS, whose address you can probably find online.... Read More

I recently wrote a blog at our law firm's web site under family law issues. Under Wisconsin law, you are only entitled to retroactive child support, going to the time a motion or petition. requesting child support is filed and the other party is served with notice of the request; so, the answer to your question is generally no, unless you fall within one of the statutory exceptions to support commencing when the motion is filed and served.... Read More

Assumingly, he has been criminally charged but not convicted of the alleged abuse, and based on that, I think you would run into difficulty if you applied for some type of child abuse injunction against him; you would need to show there is a correlation between his abuse of an elderly patient and how that poses a physical or emotional threat to your child. I would also want to know what type of abuse he engaged in, and what are the age of your children.... Read More

The answer to your question is most likely no further r two reasons; 1. Unless you were awarded a portion of your ex husband's pension at the time of your divorce, property division issues are final and you could not go back now to  seek your portion and 2. There is a 20 year statute of limitations on enforcing judgments in Wisconsin, and your 1984 divorce is well beyond the 20 year limit.... Read More

Was your agreement submitted to the court as a formal stipulation and order to make it a binding court order or is this simply an informal agreement you have with the father? If it is a formal court order, you will need to file a motion to modify it to request that the condition you live with your mother be lifted. I'm not sure anyone can answer your question on what your chances might be without knowing the whole story and have a better understanding of the facts of your case. ... Read More

Theoretically your former employer can seek to enjoin you from working for anyone else until 90 days after you gave notice, but in the real world, unless you have very specialized skills (for example, if you were Britney Spears and were trying to leave your contract to perform in a venue early) there is virtually no chance that they would sue you, and virtually no chance that their suit would succeed if they tried.... Read More

First, you must look at the lease and/or any other written agreement between you and the prior owner. Unless you have specifically given him/her/it/them the right to come and do a self-help repossession, they have likely violated a number of laws. (This is if the trailer is 'real estate' rather than a 'motor vehicle.' You should hire a lawyer to tell them to return the mobile in exchange for your immediate payment of any arrearage-and that they are open to a lawsuit if they refuse. You could also get it back through the bankruptcy process, but that should only be considered if you already have a pretty heavy burden of debt-AND if you can file your within a strict 90 days from the date they took the mobile.... Read More

In most cases, including the one you pose here, a judgment really cannot be reached without a lot more information. In general, if the parent with placement gives you permission to take her son on her placement days for a pleasurable outing, that ought to be enough. Do you know why the father objects? is he just being difficult, or is there some specific problem he sees in the boy spending this time with you? If there is no legitimate objection, and if the father does not have impasse-breaking authority, you should be okay. Any advice of this sort is necessarily tentative, because I do not have all the facts.... Read More

If this was a recent accident, how would you even know what the damages are to the other vehicle, or if the persons were injured in the accident? Was it a very serious accident? Did it result in any fatalities? How did the accident happen? Do you know if the occupants in the other car were injured? What about the occupants, if any, in your car? What is the amount of your civerage per occurrence/per person?... Read More

First off, I am sorry to hear about what happened to your husband. Secondly, you need to be aware of the statute of limitations; this incident happened in November 2014. The statute of limitations in WI for suing for medical malpractice is 3 years from the date of the occurrence. You are quickly closing in on that 3 year time line. Failure to file the lawsuit within the three years will forever bar the claim. The first thing you need to do is gather up all of his medical and hospital records as soon as possible. The rules of lawyers.com do not allow us to make a referral for you or recommend our own services. Check the lawyer guide here. Other good sources are the best lawyers in America or Super Lawyers which ranks the best lawyers nationwide by specialty. Once you have the records together, the lawyer you select will review them and also have them reviewed by an outside medical consultant to determine if you have a viable case. Medical malpractice cases are exceedingly difficult to pursue and win in Wisconsin, so it is not going to be easy for you to locate an attorney who may be willing to pursue the case for you.... Read More