Wisconsin Family Law Offices

In Wisconsin, the court must find that the marriage is irretrievably broken. This finding is usually based on the petition for the divorce and one or both parties’ testimony at the final hearing.

If one party contests the grounds, the court is still required to make a finding that the marriage is irretrievably broken if it finds no reasonable prospect of reconciliation.

Since each case is different, the cost of a Wisconsin divorce varies by each case significantly. The cost depends on many factors including the number of hearings, the types of issues included, the nature of assets of one or both parties, whether a guardian ad litem is appointed to represent the children’s best interests, and whether the parties have reached agreements on some or all issues.

The cost of a divorce in Wisconsin will often include both attorney and filing fees. However, the cost of each case will vary largely depending on if both parties are agreeable, if children are involved, and in settling the division of marital property.

While the exact cost of a divorce will fluctuate based on the particulars of the case, an uncontested divorce in Wisconsin can cost significantly less than a contested divorce.

Legal annulments are granted only for very specific reasons in Wisconsin. The court may grant an annulment if it finds:

• A party lacked capacity to consent to the marriage, because of age, mental incapacity, or the influence of drugs or alcohol;
• A party was induced to enter the marriage by force, duress or fraud within one year of obtaining knowledge of the fraud;
• A party lacks the physical capacity to consummate the marriage by sexual intercourse and this was not know by the other party; or
• The marriage is prohibited by law.

Even in cases where the court cannot grant a legal annulment, the parties may be able to pursue an annulment through their church in addition to the divorce.

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In Wisconsin, custody refers to decision-making authority, and it is most common for custody to be held jointly between the parents. Pursuant to statute, the court is required to presume that joint legal custody is in the best interest of the children.

It is in the present best interest of the minor children of the marriage for the parents to have joint legal custody if both parents are fit and proper persons to have joint legal custody.

Placement means the right of a parent to have the child physically placed with that party and has the right and responsibility to make, during that placement, routine daily decisions regarding the child’s care, consistent with major decisions made under the custody designation. The placement order addresses where and with whom the child actually spends time.

Under most circumstances, when a court sets a parenting schedule in a placement order, it is required to set a schedule that allows the children to have regularly occurring, meaningful periods of physical placement with each parent that maximizes the amount of time the child may spend with each parent.