Archives: Caselaw

Wisconsin had long adhered to the “relevance” test for expert testimony: Whether the evidence would likely assist the finder of fact. As recently as a year ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court refused to adopt Daubert. Never shy, the Wisconsin Legislature has decided it knows evidentiary law better than the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Could it be that our Supreme Court, which has gone over two years without deciding a single significant family law case, could have not one, but two such cases before it in the present term? Am I dreaming?

An open letter to Wisconsin Lawmakers on spousal maintenance,

There’s an old joke about a husband not wanting to pay his wife any maintenance. The judge, after hearing the evidence, finds she is entitled to support and says, “I’m going to give her $1,000 per month.” The husband responds, “Damn nice of you, judge. I’ll kick in a couple hundred bucks of my own.”

This article analyzes the implications of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals’ opinion in McReath v. McReath.

When an appellate court decision starts by noting that a particular area of law has been characterized as a “quagmire,” one reasonably expects that the court will then proceed to clean up the confusion. So, when a recent Court of Appeals case explicitly states that its decision will not “pull Wisconsin out of the quagmire,” the case is worth reading more than once.

While not directly addressing the issue of continuing contempt, a recent decision by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals does recognize the goal of making the victim whole and provides authority for trial courts to do so.

It seems that every few years, the Court of Appeals needs to remind trial courts that rules of evidence and procedure apply in family law cases.

For years, Wisconsin appellate courts have wrestled with the treatment of defined benefit plans as either income available for support, property to be divided or (shudders) both. Now a new case creates substantial confusion.

Recent developments in case law along with the effect of the depressed economy on family law make this a good time to visit the current law of contempt remedies.