Paternity In Wisconsin
Wisconsin law allows several ways to establish legal paternity:
Voluntary Acknowledgment - This means that is you are married paternity is presumed unless otherwise disputed. If you are unmarried both parents can sign a documents acknowledging paternity and put the fathers name on a child’s birth certificate. This form can be obtained at the hospital, from a child support agency, or at the register of deeds office in your county. The Voluntary Paternity Acknowledgment form needs to be signed with a notary public present and filed with the Vital Records Office in Madison, Wisconsin.
Stipulations and Order - this allows both parents to sign a legal agreement acknowledging legal paternity. This agreement must be filed with the county. This agreement can establish legal paternity, custody, visitation and child support. For this agreement to be legally binding it must be converted to a court order.
Contested Paternity Proceedings - When two people can not agree on legal paternity one of them can file a summons and complaint. They may request that paternity testing be performed as part of the court process. The child support agency will initially cover the cost of paternity testing. However, if legal paternity is established with a high probability the court may require the father to reimburse all or some of the paternity testing expenses. Additionally, once legal paternity is established during these legal proceedings the court is required to decide on issues regarding custody, visitation and financial support as well.
Before the year 2000 Wisconsin law allowed child support to be paid retroactively to a child’s date of birth. This was true regardless of the child’s age when paternity proceedings began. Now, the law only allows a court to order retroactive payments from the cate when the paternity proceedings began. There are very few exceptions to this rule.