One of the spouses must a be a resident of the state of Wisconsin for at least 6 months and a resident of the county in which they file for at least 30 days immediately prior to filing for the divorce. A hearing will not be scheduled by the clerk until the expiration of 120 days after service of the summons and petition upon the respondent or the expiration of 120 days after the filing of the joint petition. The divorce is typically filed with in county in which the filing spouse resides. (Wisconsin Statutes - Sections: 767.05, 767.083)

Irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. If both of the parties by petition or otherwise have stated under oath or affirmation that the marriage is irretrievably broken, or if the parties have voluntarily lived apart continuously for 12 months or more immediately prior to commencement of the action and one party has so stated, the court, after hearing, shall make a finding that the marriage is irretrievably broken. If the parties have not voluntarily lived apart for at least 12 months immediately prior to commencement of the action and if only one party has stated under oath or affirmation that the marriage is irretrievably broken, the court shall consider all relevant factors, including the circumstances that gave rise to filing the petition and the prospect of reconciliation. (Wisconsin Statutes - Sections: 767.07)

When making a property award, the court, without regard to marital misconduct will consider all of the following: (1) The duration of the marriage. (2) The property brought to the marriage by each party. (3) Whether one of the parties has substantial assets not subject to division by the court. (4) The contribution of each party to the marriage, giving appropriate economic value to each partyÕs contribution in homemaking and child care services. (5) The age and physical and emotional health of the parties. (6) The contribution by one party to the education, training or increased earning power of the other. (7) The earning capacity of each party (8) The desirability of awarding the family home or the right to live therein for a reasonable period to the party having physical placement for the greater period of time. (9) The amount and duration of an order granting maintenance payments to either party, any order for periodic family support payments and whether the property division is in lieu of such payments. (10) Other economic circumstances of each party, including pension benefits, vested or unvested, and future interests. (11) The tax consequences to each party. (12) Any written agreement made by the parties before or duringthe marriage concerning any arrangement for property distribution. (13) Such other factors as the court may in each individual case determine to be relevant. (Wisconsin Statutes - Sections: 766.01, 766.97, 767.255)

Upon every judgment of annulment, divorce or legal separation, the court may grant an order requiring maintenance payments to either party for a limited or indefinite length of time after considering: (a) The length of the marriage. (b) The age and physical and emotional health of the parties. (c) The division of property (d) The educational level of each party at the time of marriage and at the time the action is commenced. (e) The earning capacity of the party seeking maintenance, including educational background, training, employment skills, work experience, length of absence from the job market, custodial responsibilities for children and the time and expense necessary to acquire sufficient education or training to enable the party to find appropriate employment. (f) The feasibility that the party seeking maintenance can become self-supporting at a standard of living reasonably comparable to that enjoyed during the marriage, and, if so, the length of time necessary to achieve this goal. (g) The tax consequences to each party. (h) Any mutual agreement made by the parties before or during the marriage (i) The contribution by one party to the education, training or increased earning power of the other. (j) Such other factors as the court may in each individual case determine to be relevant. (Wisconsin Statutes - Sections: 767.26, 767.261, 767.29)

The court shall consider the following factors in making its custody determination: A. The wishes of the child's parent or parents, as shown by any stipulation between the parties, any proposed parenting plan or any legal custody or physical placement proposal submitted to the court at trial. B. The wishes of the child, which may be communicated by the child or through the child's guardian ad litem or other appropriate professional. C. The interaction and interrelationship of the child with his or her parent or parents, siblings, and any other person who may significantly affect the child's best interest. D. The amount and quality of time that each parent has spent with the child in the past, any necessary changes to the parents' custodial roles and any reasonable life-style changes that a parent proposes to make to be able to spend time with the child in the future. E. The child's adjustment to the home, school, religion and community. F. The age of the child and the child's developmental and educational needs at different ages. 7. Whether the mental or physical health of a party, minor child, or other person living in a proposed custodial household negatively affects the child's intellectual, physical, or emotional well-being. G. The need for regularly occurring and meaningful periods of physical placement to provide predictability and stability for the child. H. The availability of public or private child care services. I. The cooperation and communication between the parties and whether either party unreasonably refuses to cooperate or communicate with the other party. J. Whether each party can support the other party's relationship with the child, including encouraging and facilitating frequent and continuing contact with the child, or whether one party is likely to unreasonably interfere with the child's continuing relationship with the other party. K. Whether there is evidence that a party engaged in abuse. L. Whether there is evidence of interspousal battery. M. Whether either party has or had a significant problem with alcohol or drug abuse. N. The reports of appropriate professionals if admitted into evidence. O. Such other factors as the court may in each individual case determine to be relevant. (Wisconsin Statutes - Sections: 767.24)

Upon request by a party, the court may deviate or modify child support payments determined by the child support guideliens and worksheet if, after considering the following factors, the court finds by the greater weight of the credible evidence that use of the percentage standard is unfair to the child or to any of the parties: (A) The financial resources of the child. (B) The financial resources of both parents (C) Maintenance received by either party. (D) The needs of each party in order to support himself or herself (E) The needs of any person, other than the child, whom either party is legally obligated to support. (F) If the parties were married, the standard of living the child would have enjoyed had the marriage not ended in annulment, divorce or legal separation. (G) The desirability that the custodian remain in the home as a full-time parent. (H) The cost of day care if the custodian works outside the home, or the value of custodial services performed by the custodian if the custodian remains in the home. (I) The award of substantial periods of physical placement to both parents. Extraordinary travel expenses incurred in exercising the right to periods of physical placement (J) The physical, mental and emotional health needs of the child, including any costs for health insurance (K) The child's educational needs. (L) The tax consequences to each party. (M) The best interests of the child. (N) The earning capacity of each parent, based on each parent's education, training and work experience and the availability of work in or near the parent's community. (Wisconsin Statutes - Sections: 767.10, 767.25, 767.261, 767.265)

One would typically file for divorce in the state in which he or she or his or her spouse resides. If you have recently moved to a new state and wish to file in that new state, you may have to establish residency prior to filing.

If you are in the military and are stationed on a base outside your residency state, you typically are able to file in that state or in your residency state.

If you are in the military and are stationed overseas, you would typically file in your home residency state.

Yes. The system and your documents will address all the issues regarding your children such as, but not limited to; custody arrangements, visitation and time-sharing, child support, and medical coverage.

The filing and/or court fees are not included in our fee and typically range from $50.00 to $350.00 in total depending on your location of filing and whether or not you have children. The 3StepDivorce service will typically help you yield the lowest filing fee for you because both you and your spouse are in agreement.

The process takes an average of less than 1 hour to answer the required questions and generate the documents. Once you file your documents with the court according the filing procedures, the length of time will vary depending on the number of cases in front of yours. Each court has only one or just a few Judges, Masters, or Referees to review all the pending cases.

As a rule of thumb, for uncontested divorces, the spouse who really wants the divorce to be finalized typically does the filing.

The documents are filed at your local county courthouse in the family law or domestic relations division or department. Inside your account you will receive step-by-step filing procedures.

Many courts do permit you to mail and/or fax the documents. This will vary from county to county and state to state, so it will be best to check with the clerk at the courthouse when you are ready to file.

Depending on your state and your situation, you may or may not have to attend a short hearing. Most of the time when a hearing is required, it only lasts 10-15 minutes and only the filing spouse must attend. The hearing is where you will be granted your divorce and the judge will sign the final judgment or decree.

3StepDivorce is designed for you to do your own uncontested divorce without hiring a lawyer. You will be acting as your own lawyer and filing for your own divorce. Should you need or desire legal advice or should your divorce become contested, we do suggest you hire the services of a lawyer.

The wife has the option to change her name back to her former or maiden name through the 3StepDivorce solution.

The divorce is typically finalized when the Judge signs the final judgment or decree. We give a window of 30-90 days from the filing date, but this will vary due to case load at the courthouse and any mandatory waiting periods.