By Attorney Max Stephenson

LGBTQ parents can face some complex issues in child custody cases in Wisconsin. In many cases, these types of situations involve one of two types of disputes. First, as the rights of the LGBTQ community receive more public support, it is increasingly common for an LGBTQ spouse who was in a different-sex marriage to get divorced after acknowledging that he or she is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. In such cases, where children are involved, the other parent may attempt—whether subtly or outright—to convince the court to consider the sexual orientation or gender identity of the LGBTQ parent negatively when it comes to deciding custody and/or visitation rights. Following a more recent trend, the legal parent may also try to object based on religious beliefs.

By Attorney Max Stephenson

Same-sex marriage became legal in Wisconsin in October 2014. Same-sex marriage became legal nationwide in June 2015 with the U.S. Supreme Court case of Obergefell v. Hodges. However, it may come as a surprise to LGBTQ families that same-sex parents are advised to get a court order confirming both parents’ parental rights.

A number of U.S. Supreme Court judgments have provided rights to LGBTQ parents nationwide. For example, Pavan v. Smith gave both parents the right to have their names (either as “mother/father” or “parent/parent”) on the birth certificate of their child, whether the child was adopted or conceived through artificial insemination or by one of the parents.  In the U.S. Supreme Court, cases including Obergefell and Pavan have mandated that all states must extend the same rights and benefits to same-sex married couples that are extended to opposite-sex married couples, including recognizing a non-gestational parent as a legal parent.

By Attorney Max Stephenson

Issues related to child custody are often the most difficult part of a divorce. Parents must learn to balance not wanting to live under a different roof than their children and wanting the best for their kids. Determining the best way to address these issues can be challenging for a judge to determine. They must look at every facet of the child’s life and factor in each parent’s ability to meet a child’s needs. In most situations, parents will have shared or joint custody of their children. In these cases, parents will share in the right to make decisions about how to raise their children, and the children will typically spend significant amounts of time with each parent.

If you are a divorced parent, moving will likely be more complicated than finding a new home and packing up a moving van. That is because there are certain laws that apply when a divorced parent wants to move with their children to a new location.

In Wisconsin, the parental relocation laws were updated in April 2018. The new law provides that if both parents are granted any period of physical placement with a child, and one parent seeks to move with the child at least 100 miles away from the other parent, then the relocating parent must request permission for the move with the court.

The request to the court must include the following information: 

Decisions about the custody and placement of children are often a factor in divorce proceedings or in cases where parents are unmarried. However, there are also situations where someone other than a child’s parents are closely involved in raising children. Non-parents who wish to obtain child custody rights for children in their care should be sure to understand how Wisconsin law applies to their situation.

Child Custody for Non-Parents

When making decisions about child custody, Wisconsin courts will act in the best interests of the child. In some cases, custody may be awarded to a child’s relative if the court finds that “neither parent is able to care for the child adequately or that neither parent is fit and proper to have the care and custody of the child.” Eligible relatives may include grandparents, aunts, uncles, stepparents, cousins, or siblings.