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Bill > SB263
WI SB263
WI SB263Findings of fact when the court grants less than equal physical placement of a child.
summary
Introduced
05/20/2025
05/20/2025
In Committee
05/20/2025
05/20/2025
Crossed Over
Passed
Dead
Introduced Session
2025-2026 Regular Session
Bill Summary
Under current law, in an action affecting a family that involves a child, the court is required to determine the legal custody and the physical placement of the child. Current law requires the court to set a physical placement schedule that allows a child to have regularly occurring, meaningful periods of physical placement with each parent and that maximizes the amount of time for a child with each parent. In determining a physical placement schedule, the court must, in each case, consider a statutory list of best-interest factors. Current law provides that, if the court grants less than 25 percent of physical placement to one parent in a temporary or final order in an action affecting the family, specific findings of fact must be entered as to the reasons that greater physical placement with that parent is not in the best interest of the child. This bill changes the requirement such that specific findings of fact must be entered if the court grants less than 50 percent of physical placement to one parent in a temporary or final order in an action affecting the family. LRB-2980/1 SWB:ajk&emw 2025 - 2026 Legislature SENATE BILL 263
AI Summary
This bill modifies Wisconsin state law regarding court-ordered physical placement of children in family law cases by changing the threshold at which a court must provide specific written findings explaining why a parent receives less parental time. Currently, courts must provide detailed explanations if a parent receives less than 25 percent physical placement time with a child; this bill raises that threshold to less than 50 percent physical placement time. The change means that courts will now need to enter specific findings of fact explaining why a greater allocation of physical placement with a parent is not in the best interests of the child only when that parent would receive less than half of the total parental time. The bill will apply to new physical placement orders issued after the effective date, which will be the first day of the seventh month following the bill's publication. This modification aims to provide more flexibility in custody arrangements while still requiring judicial transparency when one parent is granted significantly less time with their child.
Committee Categories
Justice
Sponsors (11)
Van Wanggaard (R)*,
Eric Wimberger (R)*,
Robert Brooks (R),
Barbara Dittrich (R),
Dan Knodl (R),
Rob Kreibich (R),
Dave Murphy (R),
Amanda Nedweski (R),
Jerry O'Connor (R),
William Penterman (R),
Shannon Zimmerman (R),
Last Action
Read first time and referred to Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety (on 05/20/2025)
Official Document
bill text
bill summary
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bill summary
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bill summary
| Document Type | Source Location |
|---|---|
| State Bill Page | https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/2025/proposals/reg/sen/bill/sb263 |
| BillText | https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/proposaltext/2025/REG/SB263.pdf |
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