588+ pp.; 7th ed. 2020-21
(includes 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 supplements)
Divorce
- Stipulated Divorce
- Contested Divorce
- Alternative Dispute Resolution in Family Cases
- Use of Contempt
- Other Enforcement
- Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA)
Financial Matters
- Tax Checklist
- Property Division
- Maintenance
- Child Support
- Family Support
- QDROs
- Attorney, Guardian ad Litem Fees/Expert Costs
Children's Issues
- Custody and Physical Placement
- Visitation Rights of Certain Persons
- Interstate Conflicts (UCCJEA/PKPA)
- Paternity
Miscellaneous
- Abuse/Harassment
- Legal Separation and Annulments
- Other Actions
Stay current with the latest edition
The 2023-2024 supplement:
- Adds information to chapter FA 18 (Abuse/Harassment) to clarify that service by publication is not allowed in cases seeking certain types of restraining orders
- Reorganizes parts of the outline for chapter FA 4 (Use of Contempt)
- Reprints in chapter FA 14 (Custody & Physical Placement) selected pages from the GAL Practice Guidelines, newly revised by the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Family Law Section in 2023
The 2022-2023 supplement includes new and revised discussions reflecting recent legislative amendments on topics such as:
- Partial, pre-judgment stipulations concerning maintenance, child support, property division, and child custody & physical placement
- Procedures for de novo hearings of court commissioners’ decisions
- Required annual exchange of financial information
- Temporary delegation of custodial responsibilities for a child during a period of a parent’s military deployment (Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act)
- Exclusion of certain military allowances in determining gross income for purposes of child support
- Legal separation proceedings addressed by circuit court commissioners
- Permanent injunctions for victims of sexual assault
In addition, dollar amounts reprinted in the benchbook’s chapter on child support have been updated to reflect adjustments to the federal poverty guidelines for 2022.
The 2021-2022 supplement includes a number of changes such as:
- Revisions to the child support chapter, reflecting the legislature’s reorganization of, and amendments to, the administrative rules governing child-support calculations (effective December 1, 2021)
- Legislative amendments relating to factors for determining legal custody and periods of physical placement (effective December 1, 2021) and to the contents and timing of the submission of proposed parenting plans
- The legislature’s creation of new provisions to allow a court, under certain circumstances, to approve a stipulation for modifications to legal custody and physical placement contingent on the occurrence of a specified future event
- A recent Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion, which addressed whether a statute of repose barred a party from enforcing a property-division provision in a divorce judgment under which a former spouse had agreed to divide his military pension “when and if” it became available to him
In addition, the benchbook eliminates discussions of family support, now that courts cannot enter new family support orders. See 2021 Wis. Act 35.
The 2020-21 revision includes a number of changes such as:
- Legislative amendments (effective Aug. 1, 2020) relating to paternity determinations based on genetic test results
- A recent Wisconsin Supreme Court opinion, which discussed the appropriateness of imposing a constructive trust on life insurance proceeds as a remedy for a party’s breach of a marital settlement agreement provision
- The legislature’s removal from Wis. Stat. ch. 54 and new placement in Wis. Stat. ch. 48 of provisions relating to visitation by a minor’s grandparents and stepparents, as part of legislation relating to guardianships of the person of minors (effective Aug. 1, 2020)
- Adjustments to the federal poverty guidelines for 2020, for use in making child support determinations
For an in depth view of the content in this book, please click to view Table of Contents.

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