Archives: Caselaw

I’m not sure that the recent Wisconsin Supreme Court decision in McLeod v. Mudlaff is bad law. But the case certainly seems to involve bizarre facts.

As reported earlier, in Rosecky vs. Schissel, 2013 WI 66, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the ability of parties to stipulate to a parenting agreement in a surrogacy case, reversing the trial court which refused to honor the agreement. My article discussing the holding was just published in the Wisconsin Law Journal. Essentially, I have […]

Apparently the Wisconsin Supreme Court does recognize, after all, the rights of people to privately agree on their own affairs.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court today released its decision in Rosecky v. Schissel, which is the first surrogacy case to be decided by an appellate court in this state.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has done some strange things over the years, but its “decision” (there is a reason I put quotation marks around that word) in State v. Johnson, 832 NW 2d 609, 2013 WI 59, 348 Wis. 2d 450 (WI Supreme Court, 2013), this week is really weird.

Does federal law preempt state law when the state revokes a life insurance policy designation upon divorce? SCOTUS says yes.

I’ve ranted in the past about the cases in Wisconsin which prohibit contingent custody/placement orders. A recent pro/con debate in the Wisconsin Journal of Family Law allows me to renew my rant.

It is time for Wisconsin to reconsider the law regarding contingent placement orders.

How many criminal convictions does it take before the Supreme Court of Wisconsin will revoke someone’s law license?

It is rare that the U.S. Supreme Court rules on issues in family law, but one exception is for employment benefits. On Monday, the high court heard oral arguments in Hillman v. Maretta, Case No. 11-1221.  According to the court’s summary, the husband died before changing beneficiaries on a life insurance policy from his first […]