Many parties call our hotline looking for answers.  We do our best to steer people in the right direction to discovering information.  Remember, the more informed you are as a client, the more you will get from an attorney. View yourself as a team with your attorney  and make sure that you are not the "weak" link.  Educate yourself.  Many of our members and subscribers now have access to the Internet.   Massive resources are available at little or no cost, just your effort and desire to learn. 

General resources:

The Consumer guide to Wisconsin Law ,   The Wisconsin Court System ,  and the Wisconsin State Bar  site are good starting points for Wisconsin residents.  These sites include Wisconsin Statutes on Family Law, legal forms, ethical opinions, court rules, and dozens of other links to legal resources.

You can get a copy of the Wisconsin Family Law  Statutes - Section 767 online.

Each county also has their own court rules, defining the procedures for filing different types of cases. see county court rules.

Family Court Resource Booklet is a  44 page booklet, published by Dane County.  It can be a great help to understanding the family law process in all Wisconsin counties. It is available for $2 from the Dane County Family Court Counseling Service at  Room 108  Dane County City-County Building, 210 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive  Madison, WI 53709

The Milwaukee County Legal Resource Center, in room 307A of the Court house at  901 N 9^th Street Milwaukee, WI 53233  sells a pro-se packet of forms and instructions for $14 or a wide variety of individual forms. These forms appear to be primarily applicable in Milwaukee County.  Limited free assistance is also available on the 7th floor of the court house. 

Waukesha County  Family Court Self-Help Website. This website offers family court information and public resources, with a special focus on people representing themselves (pro se litigants).

Some counties are starting to provide some of this information on their web sites.  County web sites.

Attorneys and their clients sit down at the outset of the process and agree this case will not be tried - it will be settled. If it can't be settled the lawyers involved must agree to withdraw from the case, putting their income and their reputation on the line.  A collaborative law resource site.   Another Wisconsin site.

For information on how to resolve family related disputes outside of  the court system see alternate dispute resolution resources. (future link)

Specific Issues:

For information regarding specific issues go to the following links:

Child Custody and Placement

Child support

Enforcement of placement  orders

Paternity Establishment

Termination of Parental rights

Forms:

The Wisconsin Records Management Committee, in response to a mandate from the Wisconsin Judicial Conference has prepared the following new forms for use in family law proceeding in Wisconsin: These forms can be downloaded and printed from the Wisconsin Court System Family Forms web site.

These forms can also be filled out  and printed online.

A parenting plan form, designed by WFCF,  is also available.

An extensive collection of legal forms, draft letters, and briefs is also available from http://www.WisconsinForms.com . Go to forms bank, then scroll down to Family law  forms.

Finding a lawyer

On line information on finding a lawyer in your area:   lawyers.com       lawoffice.com       American Bar Association . 

Legal aid resources for low income parents.

Other helpful resources

FINDLAW    Think of this site as Lawhoo!  This massive directory and search engine is an invaluable tool for the legal professional not to mention individuals who are researching their own particular legal situations.  Locate a lawyer (careful-caution) and find reviews of law related television shows.  Special features such as a database of Supreme Court cases, a legal dictionary and an entertainment law section are not to be missed.

FREEADVICE.COM    This is essentially an encyclopedia of legal rights and responsibilities condensed into an easy-to-use  Q & A format.  The site covers all of the major areas of law.  Throughout the site are hotlinks to a database of lawyers (caution-beware).

LAWGURU.COM    It offers powerful search engines and the Internet Law Library. Which is a catalogue of links .  Direct information is available in the form of FAQ's on more than 15 topics.  In the legal questions sections, visitors pick a category and state and then post a question to a local lawyer or browse previously answered questions. (Again, beware that these questions match up with the facts of your case).

None of the above substitutes for having a good attorney who you can work with as a partner.  But some cannot afford an attorney and need whatever resources they can find available.  Some of the above might help you out. Don't forget to use your local county and university libraries as excellent legal resources for information.   The State Law Library  in Madison, or Marquette University Law Library in Milwaukee are outstanding in its resources and  offer clerks who happily help you out in finding materials.