In signing the state budget bill on October 27, 1999, Governor Tommy Thompson, signed into law significant statutory changes to Wisconsin's child custody and placement laws. These provisions, (Assembly Bill 133, see below for more information on the legislation) spearheaded by Senator Gary George and approved by both Senate and Assembly leaders on the bi-partisan budget conference committee, put Wisconsin into a leadership role in dealing with the national problem of many fathers being disenfranchised from their children by outdated laws and the gender bias which exists in our legal system. 

In all actions initiated after May 1, 2000 all courts in Wisconsin will be required to presume joint legal custody is in the best interest of the child and to set as a goal "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." 

Additional statutory changes also included in the signed budget bill are:  

• similar treatment of children in paternity and divorce cases (except for temporary orders),
• requiring parents to submit parenting plans, 
• reducing to 1% per month the interest on child support arrears, 
• limiting the liability for past child support to the time of filing of a legal action instead of the date of birth of the child, 
• penalties for interfering with court ordered placement and a provision for establishing a study committee to review the role of guardian ad litems. 

"Some attorneys, guardian ad litems, court commissioners and judges already apply many of these principles in present cases. There are, however, many that don't. This legislation should establish a more uniform, statewide goal of securing the best interest of children by allowing children to have both parents fully involved in their lives. It should result in more stipulated agreements, reducing the legal conflicts between parents and allowing parents to focus their energies on their children. Wisconsin is at last recognizing that dads count in their children's lives." said Clair Wiederholt, a director of Legislation for Kids and Dads. 

This legislation is the result of many years of efforts by parent's groups such as Wisconsin Fathers for Children and Families, the Family Action Association, Citizens for Family Law reform, Legislation for Kids and Dads, the Parental Rights Coalition. These Wisconsin groups have been advocating for less destructive ways to resolve custody and placement disputes and for preserving the parental relationships of both parents and their children. It would not have happened without the commitment of the people in these groups to get organized, attend the many hearings on these issues, contacting their legislators and governor, and fighting for their children in our courts and in the legislature. 

This progress would also not have been possible without the leadership role of Judge James Welker, Attorneys Marjorie Schuett, Dan Dillon, Christopher Walther and many other members of the Family Law Section of the Wisconsin State Bar. Their efforts to find a politically acceptable compromise proposal and their effective lobbying effort to convince the legislature and the Governor on the need for change and on the merits of this proposal were critical to the success of this legislation. 

These changes are a significant first step to reducing the damage done to many families by our present adversarial family law system, however more needs to be done. Legal obstacles still exist which obstruct the achievement of the new goals established with this legislation, in existing cases. There still [are] no protections for children against one parent moving with them away from easy access to the other parent. It is still possible for a judge to obstruct or terminate a parental relations of one parent without a compelling or even a significant reason. In many cases our child support standard still fails to yield rational results and treats children as an economic trophy to be won or lost in a custody and placement battle. 

We should enjoy this progress, but not lose sight of the work yet to be done. 

**The legislation is included in the 700+ page budget bill (Assembly Bill 133) on pages 626 to 638. The legislation that passed was a compromise proposal that the family law section of the state bar drafted. The governor did line item veto a few provisions included in this bill.

This is now part of WI Act 9 which can be found at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/spotlight/spotl.html. Search for "child custody" and "child placement". Bill Sections 3054co and 3054cr are the most significant. Statute section 767.24 deals with custody and placement. For child support provisions search "child support."