Bills · 2013-2014 Regular Session
Relating to: a presumption that equalizing physical placement to the highest degree is in the child's best interest and child support changes, including prohibiting basing support on income over $150,000 per year, deducting the amount of health insurance premiums from the support amount, prohibiting increasing support above the standard amount, prohibiting orders that set minimum future support amounts, and requiring a support revision if there has been a substantial change in circumstances. (FE)
Children and families, department of Court — Procedure Divorce Family — Support
- Introduced, stopped here
- Passes Assembly, not reached
- Passes Senate, not reached
- Governor signs, not reached
- Law, not reached
Unfamiliar terms? Glossary
What this bill does
Plain-language analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Reference Bureau
Equal placement presumption
Under current law, in an action affecting the family, such as a divorce or a
paternity action, a court must determine the legal custody of a minor child based on
the best interest of the child. In current law, there is a presumption that joint legal
custody is in the child's best interest. The court also must allocate periods of physical
placement between the parties. The court is required to set a placement schedule
that allows the child to have regularly occurring, meaningful periods of physical
placement with each parent and that maximizes the amount of time the child may
spend with each parent, taking into consideration geographic separation and
accommodations for different households. The court may deny periods of physical
placement with a parent only if the court finds that the physical placement would
endanger the child's physical, mental, or emotional health. When determining
custody and periods of physical placement, the court is required, under current law,
to consider a number of factors (custody and placement factors), such as the wishes
of the child and of the parties, the interaction and interrelationship of the child with
his or her parents, the amount and quality of time that each party has spent with the
child in the past, the child's adjustment to the home, school, and community, and the
cooperation and communication between the parties.
This bill provides that, when the court allocates periods of physical placement,
instead of maximizing the amount of time a child may spend with each parent, taking
into consideration geographic separation and accommodations for different
households, the court must presume that a placement schedule that equalizes to the
highest degree the amount of time the child may spend with each parent is in the
child's best interest. This presumption may be rebutted if the court finds by clear and
convincing evidence, after considering the custody and placement factors, that
equalizing physical placement would not be in the child's best interest. The bill also
makes the geographic separation of the parties an additional custody and placement
factor for the court to consider in every case when determining custody and periods
of physical placement.
Child support
Under current law, in divorces, paternity actions, and other actions affecting
the family in which there are minor children the court is required to order either or
both parents to pay an amount that is reasonable or necessary to fulfill a duty to
support a child. The court must generally determine child support payments by
using the percentage standard set out in the Wisconsin Administrative Code (code)
and established by the Department of Children and Families (DCF). The percentage
standard is a percentage of the child support payer's monthly income available for
support. The percentage that the child support payer must pay varies with the
number of children to be supported. Under the percentage standard, a payer must
pay 17 percent of his or her monthly income available for support for one child, 25
What it would cost
Fiscal estimates filed by state agencies, as official PDFs