Family Law Blog | Family Law Section

This blog discusses topics important to attorneys who work with families involved in separations, divorce, and post-divorce issues. Topics include changes in the statutes, important appellate and Supreme Court decisions, practice tips and pointers, procedural issues, evidentiary issues, and trials. Published by the State Bar of Wisconsin's Family Law Section.

This section is made up of attorneys, guardians ad litem, family court commissioners, and judges with a special interest in family law. The section monitors and proposes legislation, monitors case law, sponsors CLE seminars, has an email list, organizes the annual Family Law Workshop, and publishes the Wisconsin Journal of Family Law.

Members of the State Bar of Wisconsin may join the section by visiting https://www.wisbar.org/formembers/groups/pages/join-a-group.aspx (login required).

Website: https://www.wisbar.org/forMembers/Groups/Sections/FamilyLawSection/pages/home.aspx

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By: Family Law Section | State Bar of Wisconsin​

Blog Authors

Emily A. Tercilla
David B. Karp
Jill E. Mueller
Comm. Mark G. Schroeder
Karyn Gimbel Youso
Ashleigh Hacker
Donna L. Ginzl
Tiffany L. Highstrom
Amber L. Otis
Lauren L. Otte
Tiara Oates
Comm. Mark R. Fremgen
David S. Kowalski
Jacob S. Wiese
Jeffrey T. Raymond
Margaret W. Hickey
Paul W. Stenzel
Chue Xiong

Latest from Family Law Blog | Family Law Section

​Two years on, the COVID-19 pandemic is a daily reality that the millions of single, divorced, and separated parents across the country are struggling to navigate, and things are only getting more complicated. Parents are increasingly fighting over children’s vaccines, masks, remote schooling, and travel due to the differing views on COVID-19 safety.

With society slowly reopening, parents are frantically asking themselves whether their child should be socializing with their peers or staying at home. Are indoor activities safe?
Continue Reading Alternative Ways to Resolve Child Custody Disputes During the Pandemic

If you have a multi-county practice or accept a case in a county where you do not routinely practice, you should immediately become familiar with the local court rules in that county.

Court rules vary from county to county and cover many diverse issues, such as the timelines for filing exhibits and filing briefs, due dates for filing financial disclosure statements and parenting plans, and the duty to confer with opposing counsel prior to having a motion heard.

Attorneys…
Continue Reading Pro Tip: Know Your Local Court Rules – Here’s How

Under Wisconsin law, a parent’s duty to support their child continues until the child turns 18, or age 19 if the child is still enrolled in high school or working on a high school equivalency course (GED).1

When multiple children are involved, as each child reaches the age of majority, the paying parent can seek modification to reduce ongoing payments to the remaining minor children, based on the reduced applicable percentage.

However, it was not clear until recently…
Continue Reading ‘Be Proactive:’ Wisconsin Appeals Court Sends Message to Child Support Payers

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Family law actions are expensive to maintain, both for the client who is seeking a favorable outcome, and for the attorney who may not be timely paid. When one of the parties to a case is uncooperative, highly adversarial, or less than forthright, the costs of the case may escalate – to the detriment of both client and counsel.Four Wisconsin statutes authorize the recovery of attorney’s fees for clients (and sometimes their attorneys) in family law cases. Two apply…
Continue Reading Pursuing Attorney's Fees in Family Law Cases

As represented by several recently introduced bills, there are some interesting proposed changes to family law in Wisconsin. These proposed changes would allow for a more efficient handling of certain processes and events among parties who seek or are divorced or separated.
Financial Exchange: 2021 Senate Bill 604
Senate Bill 604 was introduced Oct. 8, 2021. This bill expands Wis. Stat. section 767.54, regarding the requirement of parties to exchange financial information each year when there is an…
Continue Reading Update: Proposed Changes to Family Law in Wisconsin

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Scrolling through any Instagram or Facebook feed today, it is not uncommon to see pictures of children accompanied by an endearing story, a life lesson, or a big milestone.

Some posts contain the child’s name with a harmless anecdote about a new interest or a recent adventure. Others contain lifestyle or parenting tips.

Come early September, when back-to-school season is in full swing, social media are filled with images of smiling children holding black chalk boards reading something like:…
Continue Reading On ‘Sharenting:’ Parental Use of Social Media in Divorce

Like any other civil action, family law matter outcomes are decided on the facts. Those facts are typically collected directly from the client, and through interrogatories and requests for production of documents.

Typically these methods alone are sufficient to collect the discovery you need to engage in settlement negotiations and prepare for trial.

However, there are other methods of collecting facts that may be appropriate and necessary in some matters. To best represent their clients, family law practitioners should…
Continue Reading 3 Discovery Tools Underemployed in Family Law

While it does not happen with any great frequency, parties may from time to time change their mind about proceeding with a pending divorce or legal separation case.

David B. Karp, Marquette 1982, is a partner with Karp & Iancu, S.C., Milwaukee, where he concentrates his practice in family law.

How a family law action may be dismissed varies on whether the other party has filed any responsive pleadings or motions in the case.

The statute dealing with…
Continue Reading Dismissing a Family Law Action

On May 11, 2021, Senate Bill 105 was passed by the Wisconsin Legislature. SB 105 was signed by Gov. Evers on May 21 and published May 22, and is now designated Act 35.

This new Act 35 directly amends and retitles DCF 150 to restructure it so that the shared placement formula appears as the primary method of calculating support. Act 35 significantly restructures DCF 150. However, there are no substantive changes to the rule. In short, the ways…
Continue Reading Significant Changes Coming to Administrative Code Chapter DCF 150

In a legal divorce or paternity action, court-ordered mediation assists the parties to resolve issues related to custody and placement. Court-ordered mediation is usually done without the parties’ attorneys. Court-order mediation works because there is a third-party mediator who knows the legal process and helps parties negotiate the agreement in accordance with that process.

Mediation is not new to the Hmong community. In fact, it is expected that there is mediation before a divorce, although the process is more…
Continue Reading Clan Mediation and Divorce within the Hmong Community

This information was originally published as an Information Memorandum by the Wisconsin Legislative Council and is being re-published here with permission.

Wisconsin statutes permit a court to order visitation with a child by a third party, such as a grandparent, in specific circumstances. These circumstances include visitation during the course of a divorce proceeding, visitation if one or both of the child’s parents is deceased, and visitation if the child’s parents never marry each other. Who may petition for…
Continue Reading Memorandum: Visitation by Grandparents and Other Third Parties

When I graduated from law school, I was privileged to immediately start working at a small firm. I was ecstatic to put my law school skills to use.However, as the year went by, I noticed one thing that law school did not prepare me for – how to be an actual lawyer. Law school provided me the research, writing, and analytical tools to help me succeed in practice, but law school did not teach me how to be an attorney.
Continue Reading How Can I Get A Mentor?

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It is not unusual for parents to come to family court and demand their “right” to equal placement, or more likely “50-50” placement. Or in many cases refer to “my placement” or “her placement,” etc.

It comes as a surprise to the litigants that there is no right to equal periods of placement. In fact, the law specifically suggests otherwise.

However, the statute does direct courts to order “regular” and “meaningful” periods of placement with each parent that considers…
Continue Reading On Shared Placement: ‘Regular’ and ‘Meaningful’ May Not Mean Equal Time

De novo hearings allow a brand-new hearing on issues decided by court commissioners. Practitioners are not limited by the pleadings or evidence presented before the commissioner.

De Novo hearings are a useful tool for practitioners to gain the best possible result for clients, especially if a client comes to you after attempting to handle their case pro se.
What is a De Novo Hearing?
De novo is Latin, meaning “from the new.” Black’s Law Dictionary defines a de novo…
Continue Reading Navigating De Novo Reviews

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The word “triage” is often used in a medical setting. Triage means to assess and then assign a degree of urgency to wounds or illness, to decide the order of treatment when there are a large number of patients, presumably more than can be helped at one time.Whether apt or not, some court systems have begun triaging cases as they are filed, including family cases.

Given the large number of pro se litigants and the expectation for courts to…
Continue Reading Triage: A More Efficient Family Case Management System

As family law practitioners, we frequently find ourselves handling cases involving domestic abuse.

While issues of domestic abuse typically find relevance in determining custody and placement, Wisconsin’s address confidentiality program, Safe at Home,1 serves to protect victims’ privacy and safety.
About the Confidential Address Program: Safe at Home
Created by legislation in 2016 and administered by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Safe at Home provides a “free mail-forwarding service that provides victims of actual or threatened abuse, stalking,…
Continue Reading What Family Law Attorneys Should Know about Wisconsin’s Confidential Address Program