Divorce is never easy to go through, not only emotionally, but also financially. You’ll have to divide your property and settle custody disputes with your previous spouse. And, if you’re a military member, you’ll need to address the possibility of deployment and separation from your family during a divorce proceeding in Wisconsin. Fortunately, there are many different alternatives for divorce that can help make this process easier for you and your family.
Yes, you heard it right. In Wisconsin, you are provided with alternatives to divorce. You can check with a family & divorce attorney Wisconsin to know more about the alternatives for divorce. A family law attorney can also help you with the unnecessary procedures and long waiting periods of divorce. These attorneys can make your separation smoother and quicker with the least hassles and impacts on your life.
What are Alternatives to Divorce in Wisconsin?
- Legal Separation
Legal separation is a process to divide marital property, but not the marriage. To be granted a legal separation, you and your spouse must agree to a division of all property in your marriage. Legal separation allows you to keep all property that you have in common and nothing else. You can split everything else after the division including any debt or retirement plans. This makes it difficult for you because you have to divide everything you own and owe, even if there is a considerable difference in your assets or debts.
- Annulment
In Wisconsin, there are two ways you can annul a marriage. Spouses can mutually agree to end their marriage and remarry. This type of annulment is called a “declaration of invalidity of marriage.” The other way is to prove that the spouse was not old enough to enter into the marriage in the first place. This is called an “annulment.” You will have to prove that the state of consent in the marriage was not of high moral character or not entered into voluntarily. The one who initiated the annulment will be responsible for paying for your attorney fees.
Annulment is not something to consider lightly. It is even more difficult to get than a legal separation. However, there are cases where an annulment can be granted by the court. This may include cases where one spouse had an illegal immigrant status. Other reasons that could lead to this decision may involve fraud or coercion on the part of one spouse, a spouse being forced into marriage through physical violence or drugs used to keep the spouse unconscious during the ceremony, or if your spouse lied about their age to enter into marriage automatically becomes void in the state.