Wisconsin Recent Legal Answers from Lawyers

If the person who owes you money is deceased, you will need to make a claim against his estate. Go on the Wisconsin circuit court access site to see if there is any type of an estate (probate) proceeding going on. If there is, there is a  time line for filing a claim against the estate. which is usually 90 days after probate is commenced.... Read More

One would need to review your divorce decree, settlement agreement and QDRO for your pension to determine if your ex has "survivor rights" to your pension. If so, you would be in violation of the court orders to have her removed. If on the other hand, you were awarded your pension as part of your property division and she has no rights to it, you should be able to complete paper work provided by the state to remove your ex spouse as the surviving beneficiary should you die.... Read More

1. You can petition for visitation rights to your grandchildren under Wisconsin's so called "grandparents visitation" statute. Your schedule for visitation would be independent of your son's right to placement of the children. 2. On the second issue, you don't offer any facts or evidence to indicate what the mother's case is built around. Just because "she wants FULL custody," doesn't mean she gets full custody. The laws in Wisconsin are pretty strict when it comes to petitioning to modify placement or custody post judgment. She must prove that there has been a substantial change in circumstances and must overcome the legal presumption that things should be left as is. You indicate they were divorced for a couple of years, but it is important to know exactly when they were divorced, as there is also a law that withiin the first two years from the divorce, neither party can petition the court to modify custody or placement, unless there is a showing that the children are in imminent harm.... Read More

Gifts and inhertiances are exempt from equal property division when getting a divorce in Wisconsin.  From the way you describe the transaction, you own the house jointly with your step father. Your share was received as a gift, so that portion, in my opinion, remains exempt from the marital estate. Now, if you and your husband are living in the home together,  have a mortgage on the property and pay it together, have done major repairs or renovations on the home, by doing some or all of those things, you may have changed the character of the property into marital, and your husband would have a claim to your 50% interest in the home. You don't offer enough facts to make that leap to determine if the property has been converted to marital by your respective actions pertaining to the home, during the marriage.... Read More

You can hire a lawyer to draft a QDRO, but most family lawyers use outside companies to employ to draft the documents. In milwaukee, try Divorce financial services or Delphi Consultants in Pott Washington. The cost is around $300-$600 and usually each party pays half. It has to be paid up front in full, before they will draft.... Read More

If you have a child born out of wedlock, you will first need to have paterntiy established in order to have rights to the child, including custody and placement. Your post and question doesn't indicate whether that has occurrred yet. Under Wisconsin law, until you are adjudicated as being the biological father of the child, you have no legal rights to the child in any way.... Read More

Under Wisconsin law, a non married person in a marriage like relationship who acquired property together during the relationship, can sue for equitable relief. The leading case in Wisconsin is Watts v Watts. She is not afforded the protection of the family code chapter 767, which means no alimony and no 50/50 presumption of the estate. The court has discretion to determine her equitable share. Title to the property is not outcome decisive and doesn’t resolve whether in fairness and equitable grounds you get to keep the house and she gets nothing out of it.... Read More

It is doubtful any court would order 50% placement with a baby and an out of state father. That is not reasonable advocacy. If he moves here, he certainly would be given reasonable placement rights. With residing out of state his placement time is probably going to be limited to visits here for now, and as the child gets older, placement with him during non school time such as winter and spring break and some extended time during the summer. How the child travels back and forth and who pays for it will also be an issue the court will need to consider.... Read More

Medical malpractice cases are exceedingly difficult to pursue and win in Wisconsin. I wrote a blog explaining the difficulties at our law firm’s  Web site. The Milwaukee journal-sentinel wrote an excellent essay on the topic a year or so ago. While the mix up in the prescription is certainly alarming, without any long term or permanent damage to you, there would not be enough of a case damage wise for an attorney to pursue the case, in my opinion. If you do decide to pursue it, be aware of the three year statute of limitations in Wisconsin for suing for medical malpractice. Failure to file a lawsuit within three years from the date of the occurrence, would forever bar the claim.... Read More

The lawyer doesn’t dictate when court dates are, the courts do. If you were unable to have come to court due to a serious medical issue, you should had contacted the court directly by notifying the court clerk of the reason you couldn’t make the court date and requested to have appeared by telephone or have  requested an adjournment of the hearing. So, in my opinion you have no legal cause to sue your ex’s family lawyer. I certainly understand why you were upset.... Read More

When was your daughter’s fcc hearing? She may want to consider filing a motion de novo to request a new hearing before the trial judge. Every county has their own rule on the time line to appeal. Your daughter may want to consider hiring an attorney so that formal request can be made for  the dad’s  financial information, check stubs and tax returns. I agree that your daughter should have an address where the dad is living at if he is going to have overnight placement with the child. I would ask to see a copy of the actual court order from the hearing and to check the information listed about the case (and possibly his address) at the Wisconsin circuit court access site. It is hard for me to believe that the court commissioner wouldn’t have been insistent on requiring the dad to provide both his financial information to the court and a current address where he is residing at.... Read More

In Wisconsin, you can sue for equitable property division. You are not afforded the protection under chapter 767 (family code) which means that you aren’t entitled to maintenance (alimony) and there is no presumption of equal property division. However, you are in a long term relationship and presumably have acquired property or a home together and for that, you can sue in civil court for equitable property rights.... Read More

Using the Wisconsin serial payer formula and assuming (a) your gross monthly is $2,200 and (B) the 3rd child is born AFTER the first two, you get an offset on support for the third child, based on your obligation to support the first two. $2,200 x 25% = 550. $2,200 - 550 (support for first 2 children) = $1,650 (adjusted gross), $1,650 x 17% for the third child = $280.50... Read More

The answerto your question is probably no. Medical malpractice cases are next to impossible to pursue and win in Wisconsin anymore. I wrote a detailed blog at our  law firm's web site under personal injury issues of the difficulty of pursuing such a case. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel about 2 years ago also did an article about the difficulty of suing for malpractice in Wisconsin. 9/10 jury verdicts are in favor of doctors and hospitals It can cost a malpractice attorney over $100,000 in costs and expert fees to pursue such a case. There are limits (caps) to non economic damages as well.  You if you feel strongly that you were harmed, you will need to collect and gather all of your medical records and have them reviewed by a malpractice attorney of your choice. If they think there is something there, they will hire an outside medical consultant to reivew the records to determine if you have a viable claim. The statute of limitations in WI for suing for medical malpractice is three years. Failure to file within 3 years from the occurrence, would forever bar the claim. If this is a claim against a governmental entity, you would also need to strictly comply with 893.80. This requires written notice of the claim served on the proper governmental entity and it's employees, if known, within 120 days of the occurrence, or likewise, the claim is barred. If formal disallowance of the claim is served, is shortens the SOL from three years to 6 months, or the claim is likewise barred.... Read More

Contact the family court clerk in your county where your case is from and ask them if they can provide a list of not for profit lawyers or law firms who may be willing to take your case pro bono or for limited fees. Many counties also offer a free limited legal advice clinic. Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Waukesha and Washington counties also offer such services.... Read More

Foreign substances in food cases are difficult to pursue and win. Insurance companies are highly suspicious of these claims because more often than not, people make fraudulent claims in an attempt to collect money from the insurance company. Certainly in your case, a dead mouse in a beer bottle is disgusting and enough to make anyone sick over. You don't really state whether you actually got sick over it, vomited, had to go to the hospital or have any other symptoms at this point. Therefore, without any sustainable damages, the case has little or not value to it from a legal perspective. The best you can do is document it for the company and get some free coupons (like you have stated) for some additional beer in the future. I am sure Budweiser doesn't want the publicity of your having found a dead mouse in one of their products.  If you decide to pursue the case legally in any way, the statute of limitations in WI is three years to sue for injury from the date of the occurence, or your claim would be forever barred.... Read More

The first thing you will need to do is file a proper written notice of claim per 893.80 of the Wisconsin statutes. Since this is a claim against a municipality, you are required to personally serve the written notice on the proper governmental entity and any of it's employees that you may be aware of who were in charge or caused the damage. The written notice of claim must be filed within 120 days of the occurrence or the claim could be barred. If the claim is disallowed by serving you a formal notice of disallowance, it shortens the statute of limitations to 6 months to file a lawsuit, from the date of the disallowance. You most likely whether there is a formal disallowance or not, have to file a lawsuit to try to collect on the damages caused at your property. This assumes, of course, that you have a valid legitimate legal claim against the city or municipality for the water main breaking. Things break all the time. That doesn't necessarily equate to the city being negligent.... Read More

While no one can promise or predcit the outcome of a custody case, it seems to me, going from 12 hours a week, to week on week off, is a monumental leap for him to make. The presumption is everything should be left as is, under WI law. He must show a substantial change of circumstances since the last court orders to modify custody and placement. I also have never seen in my practice the court order week on week off placement. The parties can agree to it and make it a court order, but if up to the court, I  would be suprised that they would order such a placement schedule.... Read More

If your contract says what you say it does, i.e. that you were giving the dealer $100 to hold the car until the 15th with no contingencies, then the dealer has no right to sell the car out from under you HOWEVER since the dealer is willing to give you your deposit back you will have a hard time showing that you suffered any monetary damage from the brief.  You will have to show either that the car was worth more than you agreed to pay, or that you were forced to pay more to buy a different comparable car.... Read More

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 More