Wisconsin Family Legal Questions

Proving that the other parent is an alcoholic in court can be difficult. You will need objective evidence; drunken driving convictions; disciplinary issues at work; prior alcohol or drug treatment. Absent that, when you allege they drink too much, they will deny it or claim you are blowing things out of proportion. Your children cannot typically be called as witnesses (that is rarely allowed in Wisconsin). If there are family or friends who would come to court to testify, that could also help your cause. Certainly, if in fact they have a serious alcohol dependency issue, it can affect the placement of your children and court orders can be entered to prohibit the consumption of alcohol while the children are in their care.... Read More

One would need more information from you to even remotely answer your question. 1. Who has legal custody of your child (i.e. is there a ciourt order?) 2. In whose custody is the child now? 3. Who won't give the child back to you (i.e. his father, or the state that the father is in)? Is there ongoing custody litigation involving your son and  if so, in what state? Generally, under the Uniform Child Custody Act, you can't abduct a child and move them to a new state to create custody jurisdiction. It is unclear from your facts exactly how the child was taken from you, where he is and why you are having trouble getting your child back.... Read More

If this is a Wisconsin case and if this was a public school, you would have had to have provided 120 days written notice of the claim, personally served on the appropriate governmental entity to pursue the claim. While there are some exceptions under the statute, since this happened last year, any attempt on your part now legally to pursue the case and file a lawsuit will be met with a motion to dismiss by the school. This assumes also that you even have an underlying case to prove negligent supervision on the part of the school staff in releasing your child to some third party.... 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

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

One would need to review your divorce papers/settlement agreement to answer your question. If you have shared or equal placement and are using the shared placement formula for payment of child support, usually, variable costs are split in some pro rata fashion. An educational club may be considered such an expense. Also, if you have joint custody, you need to discuss this in advance with your ex and if they don't agree, they may not be obligated to pay.... Read More

I'm not an expert in this area, but if your parents believe you are mentally incompetent, they can petition for guardianship and/or conservatorship over you. You would have to be notified of those court proceedings, and under Wisconsin law, you would have the right to object and to request a court appointed guardian ad litem, to advcoate in your best interest. ... Read More

Is there a court order in effect that allows the paternal grandparents third party visitation? If there is, you all must follow the court orders or you could be found in contempt of court. If there is not a court order in place for third party visitation, you do not have to let them see the child at all; if they don't like it, they can file a petition with the court to request third party visitation.... Read More

There are statute of limitations in all civil cases. There is a 20 year statute of limitations to enforce a judgment. Prior to the 20 years, s.806.07 would apply. For allegations of fraud, mistake, neglect and inadvertence, there is a 1 year limitation from the date of the order or judgment. For other factors under the statute, the motion must be filed in a timely and reasonable fashion for the motionto be considered. Sooner is better than later.... Read More

Your message is sort of confusing. What is your relationship to the child? Grandparent? Step-parent? Parent? It sounds like the child got injured in an accident. How old is the child?  Are the parties divorced? If so how long ago? If within the last 2 years, the law prohibits either party from modifying custody or placement unless the child is physically or emotionally endangered. If the parties were never married, the same two year law applies to paternity cases as well, once the custody orders are set. Once you get past the 2 years, there is a presumption under wisconsin law, that the custody and placement arrangements should be left as is. There would need to be some very compelling reasons to alter the current schedule.... Read More

This is a frequently asked question. I have written blogs about this very toppic at our firm's web site under family law issues. Under Wisconsin law, a child never gets to decide how much time they want to spend with the other parent or whether they want to visit the non placement parent. The child's wishes is a factor for the court to consider under the custody statute, among many factors that the court must consider. The wishes of the child are to be conveyed to the court by their court appointed guardian ad litem. So, you run the risk that if you hold the child back from visiting her father, he slaps you with a contempt motion for interference with his visitation rights. Unless the child would be endangered by visiting her father, you have to promote the visitation and presumably force your daughter to go. I  realize that is not what you want to hear. ... Read More

I don't know if one isolated event of the grandparents arguably exercising poor judgment in letting your son play with or light fireworks, is enough that the court would change their visitation schedule or omit it. What type of fireworks were involved? How would you prove it in court? If it is based solely on what your 7 year old told you following the visit, that is objectionable on  evidentiary hearsay grounds in court; you cannot testify in court what your son told you out of court, unless there is an exception to the hearsay rule. I would discuss your concerns politely with the grandparents so you can get their side of the story and you let them know you disapprove of your son at such a young age , handling fireworks. If they continue to disregard your wishes and expose your son to arguably other safety  hazards, it may be time to take this back to court to have your concerns addressed before the court.... Read More

Under Wisconsin law, putting a person's name on a birth certificate has no legal effect. The only way to establish paternity is by either both parties signing a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity or by one of the parties filing a formal paternity case in court. Further, since you are married, there is a presumption that your husband is the father of the child. If you file for divorce, the judge will not let you get divorced until it can be determined whether your husband is or is not the biological father. This usually means the baby has to be born if a woman is currently pregnant, and requires DNA testing. I recently wrote a blog at our web site under family law issues on this  very topic.... Read More

The answer to your question is no. Wisconsin does not recognize "palimony" whether in a hetrosexual or homosexual type of relationship. Chapter 767 of the Wisconsin statutes (family code) does not apply to a couple who are not married. There is no presumption of 50/50 property rights and no rights to collect spousal support (maintenance). However, Wisconsin does recognize equitable property division. A person has  a right to file a civil lawsuit to divide up the estate for property or debts acquired during the relationship. The court has discretion as to the length of the relationship, contributions made by both parties, and the size of the estate, as to how best divide the estate between them. The starting point is not presumptively 50/50. The parties would still have to deal separately in a chapter 767 proceeding for issues of custody, placement and child support of their child together.... Read More