Waukesha Family Legal Blog

When a Wisconsin couple finalizes its divorce, the parties will be issued a divorce decree from the court. This decree will set forth all of the decisions that have been finalized regarding the marriage dissolution and can, depending upon the needs of the parties, cover property settlements, support payments, and child custody. While some these decrees withstand the test of time and never need to be changed, others require modifications to ensure that the parties and their kids are provided with what they need.

When it comes to modifying a child custody order or plan, courts will generally look at what the parties want to do and how those changes will affect the best interests of the kids who are subject to the outcomes. Different families will have different needs, and as such it is important that individuals get case-specific advice on how to address their needs for post-divorce child custody decisions.

The word "divorce" can invoke negative feelings and fear even in Wisconsin residents who have never had to go through the process. That is because most people think of divorce as a confrontational and hostile process that pits former partners against each other in an antagonistic legal spectacle. While some divorces unfortunately follow this hostile path, readers should be aware that not every divorce must be difficult.

That is because in Wisconsin individuals can elect to use collaboration to bring their marriages to their ends. As prior posts on this divorce and family law blog have mentioned, collaborative divorces allow divorcing parties to work together to find acceptable solutions to their end-of-marriage differences. Rather than putting a judge in charge of dividing up their property and deciding where their kids should live, partners to an ending marriage take control of their futures and make choices about how best to serve the interests of all of the parties involved.

Helping children transition out of a single home and into the shuffling existence of a shared custody arrangement can be tough on both parents and kids. While some Wisconsin families opt to allow kids to spend most of their time in the custody of one parent to minimize the disruptions to their lives, in some situations it is not possible for parents to work out schedules that do not impose burdens on their kids. When this happens, parents and kids may find themselves in an endless trip back and forth between two different homes.

People can get creative when it comes to child custody matters, and one trend that is growing in popularity across the country is nesting. Also called birdnesting, this practice flips the traditional custodial arrangement of kids moving from house to house to see their parents to the kids staying only in their family home. When a parent has their turn to have custody of their kids, they move into the home to stay with them. When it is not their turn, they stay at a second residence to allow the other parent have their turn.

It is often the case that more can be accomplished by individuals when they pool their resources and work together. This is a truth in Wisconsin workplaces, households, schools and in many social contexts people are encouraged to work together so that the resolutions they come up with serves the needs of the many, instead of just the few. In essence, collaboration is a good way for people with different perspectives to find common ground and answers to their collective troubles.

If collaboration is such a good way to solve issues, it may seem strange to readers of this family law blog that it is not the standard practice for ending marriages. As previously discussed in prior posts, collaborative divorces involve negotiations between the divorcing parties, wherein they may settle their own differences. It is important to note though that collaboration may not be possible for all divorcing couples as those that have experienced severe conflict or abuse may not be able to work together on a fair field of discourse.