Child Custody - Placement & Visitation

Brandau & Waltz

Under Wisconsin laws, the Wisconsin Circuit Court presiding over your divorce case will make a determine of custody in the final divorce decree. It is always the court's objective to make the best possible decision for the child (or children), their best interest and their greatest benefit. Wisconsin courts begin with the presumption that the parents can and will always consider the best interests of the child and share jointly in all legal decisons affeting the child's welfare. The court will also presume that physical placement of the child will be primary to one parent and secondary to the other, but that the parents will cooperatively arrange visits and schedules.

A court then determines if those presumptions are accurate. If no evidence is presented to the contrary, the court assumes that the presumptions are correct. At that point, the court will make its findings and enter its order, known as a child custody award or order of the court.

If yours is a situation in which those presumptions are correct, then it could well be said that cooperation is the best way to handle a divorce or custody dispute from the child's perspective. However, if yours is a situation where those presumptions would not be in the best interests of your child (or children), then proper arguments should be made to the court.

Over more than two decades of handling child custody cases in the state of Wisconsin, Attorney Ann Brandau has earned the respect and admiration of the legal community and judges for her diligent pursuit of orders that will safeguard a child's interests. In those many years, she has often served as a guardian ad litem (an attorney that represents the child's best interests). She has also handled many child custody cases through mediation and other collaboration methods. But there have been those times when the only recourse available is aggressive outright trial litigation to fight for the rights of the child and the protective parent. Ann stands ready to help you proceed through your child custody issues.Attorney Ann Brandau & Attorney Peter Waltz are licensed to practice law in the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota.