When Should I Hire a Divorce Attorney - Infidelity

Attorney Kyle Kaufman • October 26, 2020

When Should I Hire a Divorce Attorney - Infidelity

Attorney Kyle Kaufman • October 26, 2020

When Should I Hire a Divorce Attorney - Infidelity

This is the second part of my series - When Should I Hire a Divorce Attorney.   



Infidelity is absolutely a time when you want to hire a divorce attorney. A divorce attorney will remain detached from emotions and will help you with your children and finances. 


There is something seriously wrong in your marriage, if one or both spouses are cheating. Infidelity, cheating, whatever you want to call it, is a violation of trust. When you violate trust, you lose credibility.  That has a great impact on the marriage and a spouse’s ability to think clearly. The breakdown of trust is such a big deal. If you cannot trust your spouse to love and respect you, then how can you trust your spouse in other matters of life, such as with your finances and children? This is when you need an attorney to help you make wise decisions that will impact your future with your family and your finances. 


With cheating, forever, there will be feelings of suspicion, remorse, anger, hate, love, forgiveness, and more. Spouses will blame each other and all of this will fester and compound. Whether you are the victim or the cheater, one of you, or both of you, decided not to care enough about the marriage. When someone does not care to the point that there is infidelity, it is simply time to move on and file for divorce.


You may not be able to change your spouse, but you can change yourself. You can change the way you react to the way someone treats you. Divorce is a way to change how you react to what your spouse does to you. You want to cheat? Fine, that is on you. But I am not going to wait for you to decide to respect and love me. You had a chance and I am moving on. You have one life. Would you rather live it happily or in sadness?


You have to start believing that you are a co-creator in this wonderful life that has been offered to you. You make the decisions and you take action. You can design your life and how you wish it to be. Why are you waiting around for someone else to plan it for you? I can guarantee to you that your cheating spouse was not planning a wonderful life for you when he or she cheated. It is really the exact opposite. That person did not care whatsoever. The decision to stop caring was made long ago, and not just in the moment that the spouse cheated. Take control of your life and your plans. File for divorce and work with an attorney to start designing your future. Focus on your children and finances. Let the attorney help you through the untangling of your life, in order to put it back together to march forward.


If you are the person that cheated, divorce attorneys work with you too. Maybe cheating was not the best way to exit your marriage, but now that it has occurred, we must deal with its impact. Wisconsin is a no fault divorce state. This means that infidelity cannot be used against you to punish you. Many people have the incorrect belief that because they cheated that they are deserving of less. We will work with you to talk about how the marital estate and your right to custody of your children will be affected.


As a bottom line, please remember that your choices will have some impact on the divorce proceedings, but more than likely it is an emotional impact. You cannot let the emotional impact cloud your understanding of the law and what is entitled to you. You must determine to move on. Confront the challenges ahead of you.


You need an attorney because the attorney is detached from all the emotion that comes from infidelity. A divorce attorney will remain focused on a positive outcome for you. We will help you address all aspects of a divorce. This includes the division of income, real estate, personal property, retirement accounts, investments, other assets and debts. 


Infidelity is a difficult topic, especially when you have children. A divorce attorney will help you determine, what if any impact cheating will have on your custody and placement rights. We will walk through this together to address all concerns you have. 


A divorce attorney’s job is to make sure that you leave the marriage with your children, your money and your dignity.


What Happens with Child Support When Someone Goes to Jail?

By Attorney Kyle Kaufman of HKK Law Offices • November 13, 2024
Because INCARCERATION IS NOT VOLUNTARY UNEMPLOYMENT, what happens to child support when payors are sent to jail? Wisconsin has recently made changes to the child support guidelines that includes added language to the administrative code, DCF 150, the code that covers child support, regarding this specific situation. What do these changes mean? It means that Incarcerated payors can now seek a modification to child support orders. In Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has long held that incarceration is just one factor to consider when determining whether to change a support order. By adding this language to DCF 150, Wisconsin is now prohibited from having a law that bars changes for incarcerated parents. In the past, states had laws that prevented incarcerated parents from seeking changes to child support orders. The federal government, however, has come in, and established federally required language that prohibits states from barring changes when parents are incarcerated. Now, by adding the language to DCF 150, Wisconsin is now compliant with federal requirements related to child support. These are complicated matters, and the point of me sharing this information with you is to make you aware of these matters and to help you explore the ideas and concepts. Thank you for reading. Can you do something for me so we can continue to make great content like this? Schedule a complimentary consultation to speak with us using Wisconsin Attorney | Random Lake, WI | Hawley, Kaufman & Kautzer S.C. Subscribe or follow HKK Law Offices on social media Like and share our social media posts Leave a comment on our social media posts

How does a Court in Wisconsin Handle Legal Custody and Transgender Youth?

By Attorney Kyle Kaufman of HKK Law Offices • November 13, 2024
Legal custody disputes related to transgender children present special issues in family court. To help understand these types of disputes, it is important to know terminology, such as: Gender identity Gender expression Transgender Nonbinary Gender dysphoria Transition It is also important be aware of the people who could be relevant in legal custody disputes involving transgender youth, such as: Counselors Doctors Expert witnesses on transgender youth Examples of these types of disputes between parents: What if one parent is supportive of their child’s gender identity, but the other is not supportive? What if parents disagree as to whether and to what extent gender-affirming care should be provided to a child? What if one parent views a trans child’s gender expression as a mental health concern? These of disputes can generally be decided by a Wisconsin Court under the “best interest of the child standard.” The court can consider the positive or negative impact of gender-affirming health care, mental health care, counseling, and even medications and medical procedures, including hormone therapy, and surgical options. The court can also consider the existing mental health of the child, and whether there are any existing mental health disorders or the need for assessments or evaluations. The court will consider the conduct of the parents and the reasons for their support or rejection of the child’s gender identity or expression. These are complicated matters, and the point of me sharing this information with you is to make you aware of these matters and to help you explore the ideas and concepts. Thank you for reading. Can you do something for me so we can continue to make great content like this? Schedule a complimentary consultation to speak with us using Wisconsin Attorney | Random Lake, WI | Hawley, Kaufman & Kautzer S.C. Subscribe or follow HKK Law Offices on social media Like and share our social media posts Leave a comment on our social media posts

How is Child Support Calculated When a Person Has Children with More than one person?

By Attorney Kyle Kaufman of HKK Law Offices • November 13, 2024
Wisconsin child support guidelines use the term “Serial-Family Parent.” A “Serial-family parent" means a parent with an existing legal obligation for child support who incurs an additional legal obligation for child support in a subsequent family because of a court order. Who is a serial-family parent? If you have a child with one parent, and then have another child with a different parent, you are a serial-family parent when it comes to considering how to set the support order for the second child. In Wisconsin, this means that when determining monthly income available for support for the second child, the court needs to know the dollar amount of the prior order, or the court needs to determine how much the parent would owe in the first case if support were determined today. Who is not a serial-family parent? If you have a child with one parent, and then have another child with a different parent, you are not a serial-family parent when it comes to considering how to set the support order for the first child In Wisconsin, this means that when determining monthly income available for support for the first child, the court is not instructed to know the dollar amount of the order for the second child, and the court does not need to determine how much the parent would owe in the second case if support were determined today. How is this fair? As always, there may be good reason for the court to deviate from the guidelines. The reasons to deviate are included in Wisconsin statutes, and one reason includes, the needs of any person, other than the child, whom either party is legally obligated to support. These are complicated matters, and the point of me sharing this information with you is to make you aware of these matters and to help you explore the ideas and concepts. Thank you for reading. Can you do something for me so we can continue to make great content like this? Schedule a complimentary consultation to speak with us using Wisconsin Attorney | Random Lake, WI | Hawley, Kaufman & Kautzer S.C. Subscribe or follow HKK Law Offices on social media Like and share our social media posts Leave a comment on our social media posts

GRANDPARENT RIGHTS: MY CHILD AND I HAD A FALLING OUT AND THEY HAVE PREVENTED ME FROM CONTACTING MY GRANDCHILD.

March 13, 2024
In Wisconsin, your child has the right to deny you placement or visitation with your grandchild absent a court order requiring visitation or placement. You, as the grandparent, have the right to petition the state courts for relief. When determining whether placement or visitation is appropriate, a court will look at whether the grandparent will act in accordance with the parent’s wishes and if placement or visitation is in the best interests of the grandchild. Grandparents have a high burden of proof to obtain visitation. Courts will start with the presumption that the parent is acting in the child’s best interests and the burden is on the grandparent to overcome this presumption. Courts may look to what historical visitation schedule the grandparent exercised, the nature and length of relationship between grandparent and grandchild, the ability of the parties to cooperate and communicate, and any other factor that the court deems relevant. There are pros and cons in filing a petition for grandparent visitation and consulting with an attorney may be helpful to parties who think they will request relief.

CHILD SUPPORT: DEVIATING FROM GUIDELINES?

March 13, 2024
Child support is generally ordered pursuant to the guidelines provided for in the governing statutes. Courts may deviate from these guidelines if it finds that the guidelines amount would be unfair. The court makes the fairness determination after evaluating the fifteen fairness factors. It is important for litigants to be prepared ahead of any request for deviation because the burden is on the requesting party to show that deviation is appropriate. Litigants often believe that child support is “just math,” but it can be much more complicated than that. An attorney can help parties look at all 15 factors, determine which ones apply, and make legal arguments on your behalf.

Equivalent Care Credit in Wisconsin

February 23, 2024
The Wisconsin Administrative Code pertaining to child support guidelines was updated effective January 1, 2024. The code chapter, specifically Department of Child and Families Chapter 150 (DCF 150), was updated to clarify when and how equivalent care should be applied when calculating child support. Child support is the obligation to support a child financially. Support is calculated by reviewing the payor’s gross income and comparing it to the amount of overnight placement that person has with the child. In some instances, a parent would be unable or unavailable to have overnight placement with their child. For example, a parent working third shift would not feasibly be able to have overnight placement. In that case and if a parent provided a certain amount of care during they day, they could be given credit for overnight placement. The purpose is to not penalize a parent for working third shift who provides meaningful care and support for their child but is unable to actually have overnight placement. That is called “Equivalent care”, which contemplated that periods of time a parent has with their child of at least 6 hours and during which a meal is provided could be considered equivalent of an overnight. Unfortunately, when applying equivalent care credit, courts were giving individuals duplicate credit for overnight placement and placement the day following but did not include an overnight. For example, If an individual had placement Saturday into Sunday, they would receive credit for Saturday overnight placement. Courts would often give that parent credit for an additional overnight if that parent had placement of the child until Sunday at 7:00 under the presumption that the child was provided meals and was with that parent nearly the entire day. The scenario was not consistent with the original intent for equivalent care credit. The update to DCF 150 removed the equivalent care definition and clarified its implementation within the code that is consistent with the original intent and purpose for equivalent care. The update specifically states that Duplicate credit, as described above, is not permitted. A parent cannot receive credit for equivalent care during a period that is within 24 hours of an overnight period for which they received a credit, unless the other parent is providing overnight care the night before and after.  Child support calculations and placement arrangements are often among the most contentious issues in family law cases. If you find yourself lost and in need of direction, contact our Family Law Team today!

Enforcing Physical Placement Orders

January 19, 2024
Unfortunately, there are times when one party withholds placement of a child. There a can be many reasons or motivations for a party to withhold placement from the other parent. Regardless of the reason, the party who has had their placement denied, withheld or interfered with may file a motion with the court to have the placement order enforced. As in most cases when a motion is filed, the moving party must allege facts to show that their placement has been denied or interfered with. Because this particular motion asserts that one parent has been denied placement with their child—and the parent-child relationship is of such great importance—the court is obligated to hold a hearing on the motion within 30 days of service, unless both parties agree to extend the time to hold a hearing. During the hearing, both parties present their case to the court. At the conclusion, the court must determine whether the party alleged to have denied placement to the other party did so intentionally and unreasonably. If the court finds both occurred, it must issue an order granting additional period of placement to replace those denied periods of placement and award the moving party a reasonable amount for the cost of the action. The court may make additional findings to include additional financial compensation to the moving party, find the responding party in contempt and issue an injunction requiring the responding part to strictly follow the placement order. It is possible for a court to find that placement was intentionally denied while determining that that denial was not unreasonable given the circumstances. If you have had periods of placement denied to you or have been accused of withholding placement from another parent, call one of the attorneys at Hawley, Kaufman & Kautzer, S.C. today!

Temporary Orders in Divorce Proceedings

January 15, 2024
A temporary order in a divorce proceeding is especially helpful when there are contested issues. Think of a temporary order as the “rules of the game” during a divorce proceeding. Aside from limited situations, the soonest a divorce judgment may be granted is 120 days after service or filing a joint petition. A lot can happen in that time and without any provisions or orders in place either or both parties may find themselves in at a disadvantage. A temporary order can establish a legal custody and physical placement arrangement for the parties to follow while the divorce is pending. That temporary order could end up being the final order of legal custody and placement, however, it is not uncommon for a final placement arrangement to be different from a temporary order. Either or both parties can request a temporary order hearing at which time the court would make an order regarding custody and placement. It is possible for the parties to enter into a stipulated agreement regarding custody or placement, which would be approved by the court and the parties would be obligated to follow the arrangement. A temporary order can also establish child support or maintenance from one party to the other. It can also direct either or both parties to continue pay debts or continue to maintain property resulting from the marriage. The order could also include a requirement that both parties maintain the children as beneficiaries on a health insurance policy. In some cases it may be appropriate to get an order awarding one person the right to and enjoyment of the martial residence, thereby requiring the other party to relocate. The order can also establish that debts incurred by either party after the divorce was filed is the debt of that individual rather than a marital debt. There are many good reasons to request hearing for a temporary and to obtain an order either by stipulation or following a contested hearing from the court. Some parties may want to proceed through a divorce amicably with their spouse, however, it could be detrimental to proceed without an order guiding the parties and setting the rules of the game. A temporary order is a vital way to protect yourself and interests while divorce is pending before the court. If you have questions on a new or pending divorce action or if you have more questions about a temporary order, contact our team today to schedule a free initial consultation!

Initial Orders on Stipulations in Family Proceedings

By Emmanuel Durugnan • January 6, 2024
In pending divorce proceedings, it is common for the parties to reach at least a partial agreement regarding physical placement, legal custody, child support, property division or maintenance while other matters remain unresolved. In that case, even though the parties prepare, sign and file that written agreement with the court, Wis. stat. 767.333 requires that the circuit court hold a hearing to review the agreement with the parties. At that hearing the court will ensure that the written agreement correctly conveys the agreement of both parties. Generally, the court will have each party provide brief testimony either elicited by the parties’ counsel or the court. It is necessary for the court to ensure that the parties express their understanding of the agreement and agree to be bound by the terms as it would be incorporated into the judgment. This section only applies to initial orders regarding physical placement, legal custody, child support, property division or maintenance. If the parties file a stipulation on these matters after a judgment had previously been entered, the court can simply approve the agreement without a hearing.  If you have questions in your family law matter, make sure to contact Hawley, Kaufman & Kautzer today and schedule your free initial consultation!

Legal Separation vs. Divorce

December 8, 2023
You might hear of people who are legally separated and wonder how that is different from simply being divorced. In Wisconsin, legal separations and divorces share a similar legal process, but the end result is differently. For example, in both cases the parties have to file petitions with the court. The court cannot enter a judgment in either case until 120 days have passed since the joint petition was filed or the non-filing party was served. In Wisconsin, the grounds for divorce is that the marriage is irretrievably broken, meaning there is not reason prospect of the parties being able to reconcile. However, in a legal separation, the parties need to allege and show that the marriage is only “broken”, which leaves the possibility that the parties may reconcile. After a court grants a judgment for legal separation the parties will remain legally married and can still enjoy certain benefits such as insurance. However, both parties would live separate lives. In both cases the court will make orders on child custody and placement. At any time during the legal separation the parties are able to reconcile. Additionally, the parties can mutually agree to convert the legal separation to a divorce proceeding. If one party wants to convert the legal separation to a divorce, however, they may not make that request until one year or after the entry of judgment of legal separation. While there may be certain financial and medical benefits to pursing legal separation versus a divorce, it is important to seek counsel and review financial or medical policies.  If you have questions and want to learn more about legal separation or divorce, contact our office to schedule a consultation!
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