Milwaukee Family Law Blog

If you are a divorced parent who wants to move with your children to a different home, there are certain legal steps you must take. Wisconsin has strict regulations that cover relocating with children after a divorce. There were several updates to the law in 2018 that changed some of the relocation requirements and streamlined the legal process to make it easier for both parents.

The State Bar of Wisconsin provides information about how family relocation works for both parents. If you want to move with your children more than 100 miles away from your current residence, the first thing you must do is file a motion requesting the court's permission to relocate. Your motion has to include specific information: the proposed date of the move, where you want to live, why you want to move and a new placement schedule (if necessary). You must also provide the motion to your ex-spouse. He or she has the right to object to your move any time up to five days before the court hearing. This court hearing should occur within 30 days after you submit your motion.

When it comes to filing for a divorce in Wisconsin, the Date of Separation is important. According to Forbes, the DOS may be decided based on when one party moved out of the house, when the couple physically separated or when the person filing for divorce announced their intent. The DOS then helps couples and courts to decide what property counts as individual or marital assets.

Wisconsin is a community property state, so assets and debts obtained during the course of the marriage tends to belong equally to both parties. That said, this is just a simplified explanation of how courts decide what belongs to whom. Here are some of the assets that divorcees may be allowed to keep for themselves:

•          Property designated as separate property in a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement
•          Property owned by individual spouses before the marriage
•          Property owned by individual spouses after the DOS
•          Gifts from a third-party to an individual spouse
•          Inheritances gifted to an individual spouse

When it comes to jailtime and child support in Wisconsin, there are two main things to keep in mind. The first is that failure to keep up with child support payments could potentially land a person in jail. The second is that being in jail, whether for child support payment lapses or other reasons, does not exempt a person from the need to pay child support.

According to MSNBC, all 50 states have laws that may result in jailtime for men and women who do not keep up with child support payments. Many advocates have questioned whether or not this helps to recover child support payments for the children who need it. In the case of one father in South Carolina, who ran from police officers rather than face time in jail, he lost his life. Now, his children will never recover child support payments from their father for the rest of their lives.

Couples in Wisconsin who signed a prenuptial agreement may think going through divorce proceedings will be a lot easier because of the contract. While this can be true for some couples, it may surprise others that a judge may find a prenup to be invalid for a number of reasons.

According to Marriage.com, a prenup must be a written contract, so a judge will not see an oral agreement as valid. Both parties must also sign it to be binding.