Month: February 2022

Can Third Parties Use A Parent’s Placement Time?

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Stepparents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles are third parties who play pivotal roles in children’s lives – but does that mean that they can exercise placement time?  The short answer is no.  Physical placement is defined in Wisconsin as the time period in which a parent has their child with them under their care.  Since third parties are not parents, they cannot exercise placement or be your substitute during that time, even if they are a third party who is near and dear to your child.

But most of the time, third parties can babysit and spend meaningful time with your child.  So where do the courts draw the line?  Courts want to ensure that when a child is left alone with a third party, it is for no longer than a few hours without one of the parents exercising their placement time.  For example, it is generally acceptable to ask a family member to babysit your child for a few hours, or even a day, during your placement time when you are working.  On the other hand, it is generally unacceptable to leave your child with that same family member for a days or weeks or let them “use your placement time” so that you can go on vacation or move to a different state.  Doing so may be grounds for a petition to enforce placement action or even a modification of placement motion.

The courts provide a remedy for times when a parent isn’t fully exercising their placement and is having someone else exercise placement for them.  Wisconsin statutes provide that a court can modify a physical placement order if it finds that a parent has “repeatedly and unreasonably failed to exercise periods of physical placement.”  This is sometimes called the “use it or lose it” statute.  Not exercising your placement time could be grounds for the other parent to modify a placement schedule in their favor.

 If you are in a situation where a third party is exercising placement time of your child, please give us a call Nelson, Krueger & Millenbach at (414) 258-1644 to schedule a free initial consultation.

COVID VACCINE FOR CHILDREN AND DIVORCE

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It’s safe to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant problems in many ways – but what about in the legal field?   The pandemic has raised a series of questions relating to family law: specifically, custodial decisions.  Parents are facing unique challenges in making the important decisions in their children’s lives such as whether to mask, virtual or in-person schooling, and most importantly, whether to administer the COVID vaccine to their children. This is further complicated if the parents are divorced.

The CDC recommends that everyone who is five years and older receives the COVID-19 vaccine.  However, some parents share different views over the safety, efficacy, and necessity of the vaccine.  What further complicates this issue is that vaccine administration is considered a custodial decision.  Sole legal custody means that one parent has the authority to make major decisions in a child’s life.  Joint legal custody means that both parents are required to make those major decisions together.  Sometimes, two parents may share joint custody but with one parent having final decision-making authority on certain issues, such as medical treatment.  But if the parents share equal medical decision-making authority, both parents have an equal say in whether their child should be vaccinated.

So how can parents resolve this problem?  As always, the ideal is compromise.   Both parents can sit down and understand why the other is for or against vaccinating their child.  Maybe one parent is not comfortable with the vaccine because the child is young, and they can agree that the child receives it when they reach a certain age.  If this doesn’t work, mediation can be a cheaper, timelier, and more efficient avenue for the parties than going to court.  Compromise may also be the most beneficial option for a child’s health, safety, and well-being.

The last case scenario for parents is filing a petition to modify legal custody with the court – however, it is rare for a judge to rule on whether a child should or should not get a vaccination.  In this type of proceeding, a judge may consider factors such as whether the parties have agreed on medical decisions in the past, the child’s pediatrician’s recommendations, whether the parents have allowed their child to receive other vaccinations, and how their schooling would be affected by vaccination.  Ultimately, it’s best for the parents to figure out the decision among themselves and put aside personal beliefs to do what’s best for their child.