Dividing marital property and debts is one of the key tasks in a divorce. Property division can be complex and contentious if many types of assets and debts are involved and the parties do not agree on how to split community property.

Determining Community Property

Wisconsin is a community property state. This means that any assets or debts acquired during the the course of the marriage (or acquired after the married couple moves to Wisconsin) belong to both spouses. Assets can include income earned by either party, investment and retirement accounts, and any property purchased regardless of whose name is on the title.

When one parent seeks to move, the other parent and the children will be undoubtedly impacted, and they may want to object to this huge proposed change. Wisconsin law provides a specific framework for how to initiate and object to relocation proposals.

What the Parent Seeking Relocation Must Do

Wisconsin law outlines what must occur if both parents are given periods of physical placement and the parent with legal custody and physical placement rights wants to move with the child.

Stepparents seek to adopt children for a variety of reasons—the most common being that they provide a substantial amount of care to the children. In this instance it is wise to adopt so that the law and others will recognize this relationship.

For example, if children rely on their stepparent for monetary support, and something were to happen to the stepparent, then the children may not be eligible for certain benefits. Likewise, the stepparent may not have needed access to educational or medical records for the children in the event of an emergency. Adoption can also make the child feel included as his or her last name can be changed to that of the rest of the family.

Termination of the Birth Parent’s Rights

If you are in the divorce process and your spouse is attempting to enforce a prenuptial agreement, there may be a way to challenge the agreement in whole or in part. However, in many cases, this will be an uphill battle—there are a limited number of grounds on which to challenge a prenup.

What is a Prenup?

A prenuptial agreement is a contract signed by two people before marriage. A prenup instructs a court on how to divide the assets and debts of the marriage upon the dissolution thereof.

By Attorney Max Stephenson

In the category of “you can’t make this stuff up,” is a family law case out of Camden County, New Jersey.  In the case, Temple College Junior, Caitlyn Ricci, sued her divorced parents after they refused to pay her college tuition. While the terms of their divorce settlement settled the issue of child support, there was no stipulation as to how her college education would be paid.

According to the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia, during her childhood, Ricci’s parents did their best to support each other in parenting their daughter. Upon graduating from high school in 2012 it was determined that Caitlyn would attend Gloucester County College and live at home with her mother.  In an effort to prove she was ready to take the next step and live away from home, she accepted an internship at Walt Disney World.  The internship, however, was terminated when she was sent home for underage drinking. After a dispute with her parents about living away from home and attending school out of state, she moved in with her paternal grandparents.