How can I afford a divorce lawyer when I'm unemployed? Can I sue my wife for maintenance?

The answer to your first question is to look at one of the not for profit law firms in your area. Legal Action of Wisconsin, Legal Aid Society, Centro Legal in the Milwaukee area, are possible starting points for you. Secondly, many local county courthouses are not putting on free limited legal advice clinics. There is one in Milwaukee County daily that can provide limited advice to you and help you with the drafting of the divorce papers. Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington County have similar programs. These limited legal advice clinics cannot provide lawyers to go to court with you and represent you, but they can offer limited help if you can't afford an attorney, and also help with much of your paperwork along the way. Since I can't tell from your post where you are living, you should contact the court house in your area and see if they offer a free limited help family law clinic. On your second question, you can request maintenance from your wife, but simply because you are requesting it, doesn't mean you are going to get it. One would need many more facts from you to discuss what your chances might be for making a maintenance claim against your wife; such factors as how long you are married, how old you both are, what she does for a living, how much money she makes, what your earning capacity was when you were working, are all factors to be considered. Since you also state you were in a  car accident at work, I don't know if you are pursuing a worker's compensation case or a third party was involved and you are making a third party claim for injury. If so, it may be possible that your injury lawyer could refer you to a family lawyer to help you with the divorce case, and take a lien on your setltment that they would get paid from your settlement when received. The fees cannot be contingent however on your settlement. The lawyer wiould have to bill you per hour, keep track of their time and provide you monthly billing statements. They simply would waive the up front retainer and not expect that you pay each month as the work progresses. In exchange, you agree to pay them in full when your case settles, and if your case doesn't settle, you personally would be ultimately be responsible for payment. This arrangement must be in writing and signed by you and both of the lawyers.