Wisconsin

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 55 out of 100

Wisconsin presumes an equal property split, excludes fault from both property and maintenance, and treats equal income division as a starting point for maintenance. A party may substitute the assigned judge once without cause, and there is no jury. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Wisconsin ranks 8 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	10 / 20	The court presumes that all property other than gifts and inheritances from third parties is divided equally, may depart after listed factors, and may divide gifted or inherited property if refusing to do so would create hardship. Wis. Stat. § 767.61(2)-(3)
Alimony	15 / 20	Maintenance for a limited or indefinite time is set after listed factors, and the state supreme court has approved equal division of the parties’ total income as a reasonable starting point for the amount. Wis. Stat. § 767.56(1c); Bahr v. Bahr, 107 Wis. 2d 72 (1982)
Fault	0 / 20	Property may be divided unequally only without regard to marital misconduct, and marital misconduct may not be considered in granting maintenance. Wis. Stat. § 767.61(3); Dixon v. Dixon, 107 Wis. 2d 492 (1982)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	After considering the financial resources of both parties, the court may order either party to pay a reasonable amount for the other’s costs and attorney fees. Wis. Stat. § 767.241(1)
Second opinion	10 / 20	Any party to a civil action may file one timely request for substitution of the assigned judge without cause, and trials in actions affecting the family are before the court. Wis. Stat. §§ 801.58(1), 767.235(1)(a)

Getting in

A 3-day wait. Apply to a county clerk in any county, with proof of identity, residence and birth. No license can issue within 3 days of application, though a clerk may shorten the wait for an extra fee of up to $25. The license is good for 60 days.
Wis. Stat. §§ 765.05, 765.08, 765.09, 765.12(2), 765.15

Who can marry you. Clergy who remain ordained, certain licentiates, judges, court commissioners and municipal judges may officiate, if at least 18. A couple may also marry themselves under the customs of a religious society to which either belongs. Two adult witnesses are required, or one if a party is on active military duty. The statute does not address online ordination.
Wis. Stat. § 765.16

Common-law marriage: Not available here. A couple cannot form a common-law marriage in Wisconsin; it was abolished in 1917. Courts generally apply the law of the place where a marriage was contracted, but Wisconsin residents who vacationed in a common-law state did not become married, and a statute voids marriages residents make elsewhere to evade Wisconsin’s prohibitions.
Wis. Stat. §§ 765.16, 765.04; Van Schaick v. Van Schaick, 256 Wis. 214 (1949); Watts v. Watts, 137 Wis. 2d 506, 405 N.W.2d 305 (1987); Xiong v. Xiong, 2002 WI App 110, 255 Wis. 2d 693, 648 N.W.2d 900

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Wisconsin is one of nine community property jurisdictions. Community property. What either of you earns during the marriage belongs to both of you as it’s earned, and it’s generally split in half at the end. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. All spouses’ property is presumed marital, and that status lasts until divorce. At divorce the judge presumes an equal split of everything except gifts and inheritances, so premarital property is divisible. Gifts and inheritances stay with the recipient unless that would cause hardship. Growth in them caused by the spouses’ efforts is divisible.
Wis. Stat. §§ 766.01(7)-(8), 766.31(1)-(2), 767.61(2)-(3); Schorer v. Schorer, 177 Wis. 2d 387, 501 N.W.2d 916 (Ct. App. 1993)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

Putting it in joint names usually makes it marital. Inherited money deposited in a joint bank account, even briefly, is presumed a gift to the marriage, and so is moving property into joint tenancy. To keep it exempt, the owner must trace it and rebut the presumption with evidence that no gift was intended. Commingled inheritance loses its exempt status, though the judge may consider its origin and may divide exempt property to prevent hardship.
Finley v. Finley, 2002 WI App 144, 256 Wis. 2d 508, 648 N.W.2d 536; Derr v. Derr, 2005 WI App 63, 280 Wis. 2d 681; Steinmann v. Steinmann, 2008 WI 43, 309 Wis. 2d 29, 749 N.W.2d 145; Wright v. Wright, 2008 WI App 21, 307 Wis. 2d 156, 747 N.W.2d 690; Schwartz v. Linders, 145 Wis. 2d 258, 426 N.W.2d 97 (Ct. App. 1988); Wis. Stat. § 767.61(2)(b)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Both of you can be liable from the first dollar. Each spouse has an equal duty to support the other and neither is presumed primarily liable for support expenses, so a spouse is responsible for the other’s necessary medical expenses, and the creditor may collect from all marital property and all other property of the obligated spouse. Wisconsin is a marital (community) property state: an obligation incurred in the interest of the marriage or family may be satisfied from all marital property and the incurring spouse’s other property.
Wis. Stat. §§ 765.001(2), 766.55(2)(a)-(b); St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center v. Brody, 186 Wis. 2d 100, 519 N.W.2d 706 (Ct. App. 1994)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse keeps his or her undivided one-half interest in each item of marital property. In addition, the survivor may elect up to 50 percent of the augmented deferred marital property estate, which covers property acquired during the marriage before Wisconsin’s marital property law applied that would have been marital property if acquired under it (Wisconsin’s counterpart to quasi-community property).
Wis. Stat. §§ 861.01(1), 861.018(2), 861.02

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

Two looks, under own statute (Wisconsin Marital Property Act, based on the Uniform Marital Property Act), Wis. Stat. § 766.58, plus § 767.61(3)(L) and case law. A marital property agreement made before or during marriage is unenforceable if unconscionable when made, not signed voluntarily, or signed without fair and reasonable disclosure and without notice of the other’s finances. At divorce a property agreement binds the court unless its terms are inequitable, and an agreement fair at execution may be inequitable at divorce if circumstances changed significantly after signing so that it no longer meets the parties’ reasonable expectations. The same rules govern agreements made during marriage.
Wis. Stat. §§ 766.58(6), 767.61(3)(L); Button v. Button, 131 Wis. 2d 84, 388 N.W.2d 546 (1986)

What an agreement needs. A marital property agreement must be a document signed by both spouses (or both intended spouses, effective on marriage) and needs no consideration; the statute does not require notarization, witnesses, a waiting period or independent counsel, and one lawyer for both or counsel for only one party does not by itself make it unconscionable. A spousal support waiver may not leave a spouse without necessary and adequate support during the marriage, and if it would make a spouse eligible for public assistance at divorce or death the court may order support. The agreement may be recorded with the register of deeds.
Wis. Stat. § 766.58(1), (5), (8), (9), (11)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: percentage of income. Wisconsin uses a percentage of the paying parent’s income: 17 percent for one child, 25 for two, 29 for three, 31 for four and 34 for five or more. The judge may deviate if that is unfair. Support runs to 18, or 19 while pursuing a high school diploma. College support comes only from the parents’ agreement.
Wis. Admin. Code DCF 150.035(2); Wis. Stat. § 767.511(1j), (1m), (4); Bliwas v. Bliwas, 47 Wis. 2d 635, 178 N.W.2d 35 (1970)

Moving away with a child. A parent moving with a child 100 driving miles or more from the other parent must first ask the court, and the child cannot move before the initial hearing. If contested, best interests decide and the moving parent bears the burden, unless a presumption applies for abuse or an objector’s unused placement. Parents already over 100 miles apart give 60 days’ notice.
Wis. Stat. § 767.481(1), (2), (4)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six months. One spouse must have been a genuine Wisconsin resident for at least six months, and a resident of the filing county for at least 30 days, before the case starts. The rule for divorce does not depend on where the couple married or where the grounds arose.
Wis. Stat. § 767.301

How long it takes. One spouse can obtain a divorce by stating under oath that the marriage is irretrievably broken. If the couple has not lived apart 12 months, the judge weighs the prospect of reconciliation and may continue the case 30 to 60 days. The final hearing cannot occur until 120 days after service, absent an emergency order.
Wis. Stat. §§ 767.315, 767.335, 767.35

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 300 days from arrival to a final decree (180 days of residence + 120-day wait after service). Courts often take longer.

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Wisconsin and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Wisconsin lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Wisconsin” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.