You’ve been ordered to attend mediation in a custody or placement dispute – so now what? Why Mediation: Wisconsin law states that in any family law action matter where custody and/or physical placement is contested, the parties must attend at least one session with a mediator. The court can’t hold a trial or final hearing on custody or placement until after mediation is completed, absent certain exceptions. Wis. Stats. 767.405(8)(a). Most custody and placement cases require mediation unless there is an agreement between the parties or there are significant safety concerns for the child. The c ..read more

If you anticipate separating or have separated from the other parent of your child(ren), you may have been told that, post-separation, the two of you are going to have to co-parent. Co-parenting is a model where both parties equally share parenting responsibilities such as going to child-related events, functions, and appointments. Under this model, parents share similar views regarding child rearing and employ similar parenting techniques across the two homes. For example, the parties may agree that they will both use a gentle parenting approach in each of their homes or even enforce the sam ..read more

In many family law cases, support is a hotly contested issue. When child support or maintenance (alimony) are at issue, many worry whether their former partner is being truthful about their income or what they can earn. For example, your former partner may have a degree that would allow them to earn $80,000 a year but instead, they are choosing to work a lower-paying job or simply stay at home. In that situation, an accurate idea as to their earning capacity is very important, especially because that is a factor the judge considers when making determinations regarding child support and mainte ..read more

If you are currently paying maintenance or alimony to an ex-spouse, a question that is likely on your mind is “when can I retire?”. This is a very simple question that has a very complex answer.  If your divorce decree has a set date for the termination of maintenance, whether it is at the expiration of 60 months or after the payment of 120 months of maintenance, then the court will expect, absent some extenuating circumstance, you will work through the date of the termination of maintenance payments.  An extenuating circumstance might be, for example, if you experience a medical co ..read more

Divorce is a stressful time for everyone. You go through many major life changes – you may be moving out of your house, divvying up your possessions, dealing with a slew of emotions, and trying to find time to see your kids while juggling your many obligations in life. We don’t all deal with the stress in the best way. Maybe you have a night off from the kids and you want to let off some steam from this divorce at the local bar. That’s got to be harmless, right? A common issue in divorce cases that family law attorneys know all too well is the dreaded “divorce DUI.” In Wisconsin, a person ca ..read more

Protecting your confidential information should always be a primary concern in life, but especially so in divorce and family law cases. When you are engaged in a pending divorce or paternity pre- or post-judgment case, you will likely be called upon to provide what will seem like an endless list of financial documents. You will need to provide your attorney, opposing party, opposing attorney and the court with wage stubs, tax returns, bank statements, credit card statements, retirement and investment statements, social security reports, and many, many other documents. You may even need to pro ..read more

There is a new statutory language in Wisconsin which automatically requires parties with minor children to exchange certain financial information regarding income on May 1st of each calendar year.  Pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 767.54, in an action where the court has ordered a party to pay child or family support, both parties must annually exchange tax returns, year end paystubs, a recent paystub and any other documentation regarding income from all sources for the 12 month time period preceding the exchange of information.  Even though this is a standard law and provision that is ofte ..read more

As of March 11, 2022, a new law in Wisconsin called the “Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act” expands parents’ ability to delegate custody and placement responsibilities for a child when one parent is deployed in military service. The deploying parent must notify the other parent of the upcoming deployment. A documented exchange of plans outlining how each parent plans to fulfill their custody and placement responsibilities during the deployment is required to be made if the parents do not reside in the same household. Frequently, the deployed parent requests that his or her p ..read more

In Wisconsin,  2021 Wisconsin Act 204 has been signed into law which changes how the courts may enter initial orders regarding custody, placement, and child support for minor children, maintenance, property division, or other related matters. This new law is now incorporated into the Wisconsin Statutes as §767.333. Starting March 20, 2022, a Court may approve as a final order (referred to as an “initial” order in the statute) a stipulation, or partial agreement, regarding custody, placement, child support, maintenance, property division or other related agreements before the judgment of ..read more

Many parents have legal agreements, such as a Marital Settlement Agreement or Paternity Court Orders, which state that they alternate who claims their child or children’s tax credits each year. What might have made things confusing over the last year is the Economic Impact Payments and the Recovery Rebate Credit for 2021. The IRS determined who received the 2021 advance child tax credit payments based on the information provided by taxpayer’s 2020 tax returns, or their 2019 tax return if the IRS had not processed or received the 2020 return. This may have created confusion if parties alternat ..read more