Child Support & Maintenance

Wisconsin has statutory standards and guidelines for setting and modifying child support.  However, there are also several arguments that can be made to deviate from the guideline amount in specific circumstances.  An experienced family law attorney can recognize when your situation may call for a deviation from the guideline child support amount and help you to decide if that is an argument you should pursue.  The calculation of the proper amount of income to be used in calculating child support can also be an appropriate area of negotiation.  Without the benefit of an experienced family law attorney to assist you in handling child support with the Court, you may be saddled with an inappropriate child support order that is difficult to modify.   We assist with establishing or modifying a child support award, or in defending you from allegations of contempt of court for failure to pay as ordered.

Maintenance is the term in Wisconsin for spousal support, often referred to as alimony.  There is a wide range of statutory and case law in Wisconsin governing when, how much and for how long maintenance should be ordered in a divorce.  Keep in mind, that if you "waive" your right to maintenance you cannot later ask the court to award it to you, so this decision should not be taken lightly. 

If you have a claim for maintenance from your spouse, there are a wide range of options you can also consider to provide for your support, such as: negotiating a larger share of assets, setting forth specific terms for the payments to affect the tax consequences to you and your spouse, getting a lump sum "buy-out" of your claim, or requesting child support and maintenance be paid together as "family support."  Maintenance is a very fact-specific analysis that you should entrust to an experienced attorney.