The most common way to establish child or spousal support in a family case involving a servicemember is to obtain a court order. Support orders are usually made in divorce or paternity cases. Wisconsin will grant orders for child support or spousal support (known as spousal maintenance). However, even if a state court order does […]

Earlier blogs discussed options to manage legal custody and physical placement during a servicemember’s deployment.   If one parent is unavailable, legal custody and placement are left to the other parent, by default.   Therefore, if a parent is deployed, the children must remain with the civilian parent unless he/she is unfit. But what is the option […]

Deployment is a fact of life for servicemembers. The member has little control over the timing or location, and in most cases, the spouse and children remain in the US. Until now, parents had few options to shape their child placement schedule in the event of deployment. However, a new Wisconsin statute provides greater flexibility. […]

As discussed in an earlier blog, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) grants servicemembers a “stay” or freeze of a divorce or child custody case until s/he can legitimately participate. Upon the servicemember’s request, the case must be suspended for 90 days. However, what happens if a real emergency makes a suspension unrealistic? Earlier blogs […]

Military members and their spouses should be aware of the following Wisconsin statutes and cases that could have an affect on child custody and placement disputes: Wisconsin Statutes 767.41(2)(e) and (5)(c): ” If a party is a service member, the court may not consider as a factor in determining the legal custody of a child […]

All divorce cases require an analysis of each spouse’s assets, debts, and income. Divorce involving a military servicemember is no different. Basic documents such as the leave and earnings statement (LES), disability determination, points statement, etc. should be obtained in every case. There are several ways to obtain this information, with the last resort being […]

Serving a military member stationed overseas with Wisconsin divorce or other family court papers must be handled carefully. Service must comply with United States federal and state court procedures. It is also wise to review service requirements or restrictions of the foreign country. For example, unlike the United States, some countries may restrict who can […]

The last blog discussed general concepts to serve divorce or paternity documents on Wisconsin servicemembers. This blog will address specifics for each branch of the military. ARMY The Army will assist county sheriffs to serve members with legal papers, as long as the member is stationed, resides, or employed at the base. The first point […]

No legal case can validly proceed unless the responding party has been properly served with the relevant documents. In a paternity case, this would be the petition for paternity. In divorce, the petition for divorce. A previously blog provided some advice on locating servicemembers to serve papers. Once the member’s location is known, however, s/he […]

Each divorce case must begin with filing and service of the divorce petition on a spouse. This is generally not a problem, since most spouses know where to find each other. However, civilian spouses of servicemembers may not know the member’s exact location, particularly if the couple has been separated for some time. The civilian […]