SB 474

This bill authorizes a court to approve a stipulation for modifications to legal

custody or physical placement that are contingent upon the occurrence of a specified

future event.

According to case law, a court's authority in actions affecting the family, such

as annulments, divorces, legal separations, and paternity actions, is based entirely

on the statutes, which with respect to determining legal custody and physical

placement “embody a sense of contemporaneity...."

In re Marriage of Koeller v.

Koeller

, 195 Wis. 2d 660, 666 (1995). Therefore, the court lacks the authority to

include in a custody or physical placement order a prospective modification of

custody or physical placement that is contingent upon the occurrence of a future

event or a change in current conditions.

Under this bill, in an action affecting the family, the court may approve a

stipulated agreement between the parties for modifications to legal custody or

physical placement upon the occurrence of a specified future event that is reasonably

certain to occur within two years of the date of the parties' stipulation. The bill

authorizes the court to approve a stipulation for future modifications filed in an

action initially determining legal custody and physical placement, filed for the

purpose of modifying an initial order of legal custody or physical placement, or filed

in an action revising a legal custody or physical placement order.