Archives: Child Support

The specter of never-ending litigation is a frightening one in any area of law. Where children are involved, it is even scarier.

If the Supreme Court is going to have only one family law case on its docket (and this is currently the only one), Frisch v. Heinrichs is not the case to choose.

Depending on how strictly it’s read, the Wisconsin Court of Appeals holding in Frisch v. Heinrichs may cause severe problems in allowing courts to order a person who disobeys a court order to make the innocent party whole.

A recent court of appeals decision, which is recommended for publication, contains a startling analogy: it compares alcoholism to cancer and diabetes. The case might effectively overrule a previous court of appeals decision that is frequently cited for the proposition that maintenance payors do not need to be enablers for an alcoholic ex-spouse.

If the much-publicized case of Terri Schiavo wasn’t enough to make you reconsider the importance of good estate planning, a recent Wisconsin Court of Appeals case re-emphasizes that point.

One grey area of family law was recently made black-and-white by a recent court of appeals decision. Another area, however, may have been made a shade grayer.

This is the second of two articles analyzing the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s highly important decision in Chen vs Warner. The first article discussed the holding of the court and the reasoning of the two dissenting opinions. This article analyzes the holding and discusses its possible implications.

The Supreme Court of Wisconsin has issued its opinion in Chen v. Warner affirming the circuit court’s conclusion that a physician mother’s decision to quit her job after the divorce to stay home with the children, with which whom she had shared equal placement with the physician father, was not shirking.

Any confusion about Wisconsin law regarding credits for child support arrears might have (finally) been put to rest, thanks to a recent supreme court decision.

Per tradition, it is time to take a look back at the significant family law cases which were decided during the past year, with either plaudits for the well-reasoned decisions or – forgive me, judges – one last kick at those with which I take issue.