wisconsin custody and placement decisions

Understanding and Choosing Child Placement Arrangements

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Ensuring your child’s well-being remains your top priority through any difficult time. If you and your co-parent are separating, your children’s placement arrangement is a critical decision and demands careful consideration. There are many different placement arrangements for parents to choose from, and each comes with its own set of benefits and challenges. This article will help you understand the different arrangements that are available.

In Wisconsin, “placement” refers to where the child will live after the divorce, while “custody” refers to the ability to make major decisions about your child, such as medical decisions and decisions about religion and education. While there are two categories of placement, Primary Placement and Shared Placement, Shared Placement can have many different physical arrangements.

Primary Placement: In this arrangement, the child resides with one parent 75% of the time or more, while the other parent has  25% placement or less. Examples of a Primary Placement schedule would be as follows:

  • Every other weekend placement. This is a common arrangement when it is best for the child that one parent care for the child during the school or work week.
  • Reasonable Time, Reasonable Notice placement (RTRN). This arrangement often comes about when one parent is not able to engage in a regular placement schedule due to work commitments or other obligations. RTRN provides that parent to ask the parent with primary placement for time with the child when they are able, and that placement should be permitted by the primary parent unless there is a good reason such placement must be denied. RTRN placement may also be incorporated into existing placement, such as every other weekend placement, to give the non-primary parent the opportunity to have more time with their child.  However, this type of arrangement can only work when the parties can successfully communicate and work together.
  • Shared Placement: This arrangement allows the child to spend substantial time living with both parents. Any time greater than 25%, is considered to be shared placement. Shared placement requires a high level of cooperation and communication between parents to be effective. Shared physical placement is the most common placement arrangement because it allows the child to maintain a strong relationship with both parents.
  • Shared Placement Variations:
  • Week on/Week Off: Just as it sounds, parent have placement one week, and the other parent has the next week. This arrangement can be difficult for young children but can be beneficial when there is high conflict between the parents or for older children This is the least common type of placement schedule.
  • 2-2-3-3 or 2-2-5-5: Under this placement schedule, each parent has two days placement every week and then alternating weekends Friday through Sunday. The week days can either be fixed (Monday/Tuesday or Wednesday/Thursday every week) or they can alternate (Monday/Tuesday one week, Wednesday/Thursday the next week). It works well for school-aged children and can help with -parental conflict because exchanges generally occur at school.
  • 5/9 or 4/10 variations (based on a two-week rotating schedule). These are variations used when one parent’s work schedule or location makes it difficult to have equal shared placement. A parent might have one weeknight every week, and then every other weekend, either Friday through Monday morning – a 5/9 schedule – or Friday through Sunday – a 4/10 schedule. Because this is based on a parent’s availability, other variations are possible.
  • Nesting. A rarer but not uncommon arrangement is nesting, where the child remains in the family home, and the parents take turns living with the child there, according to one of the schedules above. This can provide stability and consistency for the child. However, it can be rather difficult and expensive to maintain because it requires parents to maintain two additional residences for when they are not in the family home.  This is generally only an option on a temporary basis while the divorce is pending.

Split Placement. Split placement is uncommon and can only occur when parents share multiple children. In split placement arrangements, each parent takes more placement of at least one or more of the children, but not all of the children. This arrangement is rare due to the preference of keeping siblings together. However, it might be suitable when it aligns with the children’s needs, for example where a child has a disability that one parent cannot or will not accommodate.

Another form of Placement is Supervised Placement. Sometimes a parent has engaged in behavior, for example, substance abuse, which has resulted in safety concerns for the child. In such cases, a parent may be required to spend time with their children in a supervised setting. The supervision can be provided by an agreed neutral, such as a grandparent, or can be provided by a professional in a setting designed for such visits. Generally, supervised placement is usually meant to be a temporary arrangement while a parent fulfills requirements to demonstrate their fitness.

Final Thoughts on placement. Every family is unique, and the choice of placement arrangements should be tailored to fit your family as well as possible. When parents work collaboratively, they can maximize their time with their children and, hopefully, their children’s well-being. When making these decisions becomes difficult, the guidance of a seasoned family law professional can help navigate these challenging decisions. At Nelson, Krueger, & Millenbach, our goal is to help you ensure that the chosen arrangement fosters a stable, loving, and supportive environment conducive to your child’s growth and happiness.

Can my Child Decide Who to Live With in Wisconsin?

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Many parents want to know if their child can decide who they want to live with in a divorce or in a placement dispute.  Or, they ask at what age a child can decide who they want to live with.  In Wisconsin, the answer to that question is that children can never make the decision as to who they want to live with, at any age.

There are many reasons for this.  Primarily, however, the courts have determined that children are not emotionally mature enough to make such a momentous decision.  Further, parents should not be placing their children in the middle and forcing them to choose between two parents who they love.

Wisconsin statutes do provide that the judge must consider the wishes of the child when making a determination on placement.  However, that does not mean that children get to decide or make that decision.  Ultimately, it is up to the parents or the courts to make a placement decision.

The older the child gets, the more weight their wishes are given.  This is especially true for a child who is mature and/or has valid or legitimate reasons for feeling the way that they do.  However, parents often mistake strong feelings for maturity.  This is not the case.  I have had cases where the court does not listen to very immature teenagers (age 17) who want to live with one parent or the other for invalid reasons (a parent is too strict or a parent is trying to influence them).  I have also had cases where the court does listen to a mature younger child (age 12) who has very valid reasons for wanting to live with one parent over the other (abuse, alcohol, neglect, etc).

More importantly, if a parent is trying to influence their child too much or drag their child into a divorce or placement dispute, this will be construed negatively against them.  Parents want to be very careful about this or it could be used against them in a placement dispute.  Children, especially teens, often have strong feelings about a lot of things but that changes frequently.  Despite what they may say, however, they do not want to be placed in a position of having to choose between their parents.  If there are legitimate concerns about the other parent, such as neglect or abuse, then this should be pursued.  However, if the sole reason to change placement is simply because that is what the child allegedly wants, this is most likely not going to succeed in Wisconsin.

Sometimes, there is a situation where a child simply will not go with the other parent for placement.  The courts usually feel strongly that you are the parent and your children must listen to you and follow a court order.  After all, children do not get to decide whether to go to school, do their homework or a myriad of other tasks that they must do.  Parents must be able to control their children.  If the relationship between the child and the other parent has broken down to the point that the child will not go for placement, then counseling is in order to repair that relationship.  The reasons for this breakdown are important, of course, and the court will take those reasons into consideration.  Ultimately, however, the child does not get to decide whether to follow a court order or not.  Understandably, this often puts the placement parent in a difficult position.

If you have questions or concerns about a placement dispute, please feel free to contact us at 414-258-1644 to schedule an appointment.  We offer free initial consultations and can review the facts of your case to evaluate your placement dispute.