Full-Service Family Practice in Northeast Wisconsin
Most people deal with the legal system only a handful of times throughout their lives. A divorce or other family conflict is certainly one of those occasions. When your family is facing a period of change, having a skilled and compassionate family law attorney by your side is comforting.
The Manitowoc family lawyers at Kaminski & Pozorski have been serving families in northeast Wisconsin for more than 40 years. All of our attorneys are Manitowoc natives, and we know how important family is to the people of our region. Whether you are going through a difficult divorce or are adding to your family through adoption, you can rely on us to guide you through each step of the process.
A Passion for Serving the People of Wisconsin
At Kaminski & Pozorski, we emphasize attentiveness and responsiveness to each and every client. Our commitment to client service, coupled with our ability to find practical solutions to legal problems sets us apart from larger firms. We are available to represent you in any family law matter, including:
- Divorce
- Child custody and visitation
- Child support
- Alimony/spousal maintenance
- Modification of custody or support
- Property division, including everything from personal items to the family home to business assets and debts
- Adoption
- Paternity
- Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements
We are skilled negotiators and courtroom advocates. We believe that many family law disputes are best resolved through negotiation, which gives the parties the ability to talk through their differences and reach an agreement on their own terms. However, we recognize that mediated agreements are not for everyone. If your case has to be resolved in court, you can rely on us to present it powerfully.
Contact a Wisconsin Divorce Attorney
To learn more about our family law practice and how we can help you deal with the challenging legal issues facing your family, call
(920) 684-6694 or
contact our law firm online. Our experienced Wisconsin family law attorneys are ready to discuss your options. We represent clients from Green Bay, Sheboygan, Fond du Lac, Appleton, Oshkosh, and throughout the area.
Versatile Divorce Attorneys Meeting Your Specific Needs
The apparent simplicity of Wisconsin divorce and family law provisions can be misleading. Because the legislature and the courts realize that the laws need to cover a wide variety of situations, you can’t predict how a divorce dispute will turn out based on a basic understanding of the law or the experience of friends and relatives.
You need to know what your legal rights and responsibilities will be under the facts of your specific case. The advice of an experienced attorney can help you reach that understanding while taking a lot of the confusion, anxiety and stress out of the divorce process.
Call Us at (920) 684-6694
At Kaminski & Pozorski in Manitowoc, our lawyers help people in family situations of all kinds get through divorce while focusing on the issues that are most important in each client’s situation:
- Legal custody of a child
- Physical placement and child visitation arrangements
- Child support
- Property division
- Enforcement of a marital property agreement
- Spousal maintenance (as alimony is now known under Wisconsin law)
Property Division
When a divorcing couple is childless, older or affluent, property division questions might emerge as the most important issues in the case. Our attorneys are familiar with the special problems of characterization and valuation that can shape the outcome of the division of assets such as family business interests, professional practices, inherited property, extensive pension or retirement benefits, or real estate investments.
Younger divorcing couples with small children might emphasize instead the security of their parent-child relationships. While child custody issues can usually be worked out through negotiation and agreement, complicating factors such as substance abuse or family violence can make it difficult for a parent to achieve a satisfactory outcome.
The attorneys of Kaminski & Pozorski can help you find the most direct path toward your objectives under whatever circumstances your case presents. Whenever possible, we encourage people to get in touch with us six or eight weeks before the divorce petition is filed, so we can identify the issues that will probably require the most attention early in your case. We also advise you about your rights and legal options if you need to modify or enforce a commitment after the divorce is final.
For more information about our ability to help you get through the challenges of divorce,
contact Kaminski & Pozorski for a free consultation.
Dependable Advice About Child Custody Problems
At Kaminski & Pozorski, our lawyers advise people about both kinds of custody issues that can come up between divorcing spouses or unmarried parents — legal custody and physical placement. Recognizing that child custody is perhaps the most emotional and important part of ending a relationship, we treat each client with compassion and we always keep the best interests of the children at the forefront of our minds.
Understanding Child Custody in Wisconsin
With more than 40 years of experience as child custody lawyers, we have a complete grasp of Wisconsin’s custody laws. We will make sure you and your children are treated fairly with respect to both parts of the law: legal custody and physical custody.
Legal Custody
Legal custody refers to the responsibility and authority that parents share for their children, regardless of a family’s residential arrangements. Legal custody covers such matters as a child’s education, religious training, or important social or recreational activities. Even after a divorce, parents will most likely continue to have joint legal custody of their children, even if the children spend most of their time in one parent’s home.
Physical Custody
Physical custody addresses where the child will live after parents break up. We help parents understand the factors that a court will likely apply in resolving disputes over primary physical custody of a child. The parent who does not receive primary physical custody will most likely have visitation rights and will pay some form of child support.
Wisconsin law today favors jointly developed parenting plans that cover the full range of issues on legal custody, physical placement and visitation. By keeping the focus on the best interests of the children while respecting each other as parents, most people manage to resolve custody and parenting time issues on mutually acceptable terms with our help.
High-Conflict Child Custody Situations
In some cases, such factors as alcoholism, drug abuse, domestic violence or mental illness need to be addressed before a parenting plan can be developed or approved by the court. At Kaminski & Pozorski, our attorneys have a great deal of experience with the resolution of high-conflict child custody cases. For many years, we have accepted client referrals from attorneys who were unprepared to deal with the special demands these cases can sometimes impose.
Contact Our Visitation Lawyers
For more information about our experience with child custody and visitation issues in divorce or paternity situations, call
(920) 684-6694 or
contact our law firm online for a free consultation. Most of our family law clients reside in the area roughly defined by Manitowoc County, Green Bay, Fond du Lac, Appleton, and Sheboygan.
Applying the Wisconsin Child Support Guidelines to Your Case
No matter the level of animosity between parents, it is clear that children deserve to have the resources necessary to meet their basic needs and give them a reasonable standard of living. To accomplish that goal, Wisconsin usually requires one parent to pay child support to the other after a divorce or breakup of unmarried parents.
At Kaminski & Pozorski, we represent parents obligated to pay support and those entitled to receive it. With more than 40 years of experience, our child support attorneys know the system and can help you understand your rights and obligations.
Determining Child Support in Wisconsin
In a Wisconsin divorce, the right to receive or the obligation to pay child support depends largely on which parent has primary physical custody — where do the children spend most nights?
Wisconsin has adopted child support guidelines. In the traditional physical placement arrangement schedule, the courts will generally require the non-custodial parent to pay child support in an amount equivalent to:
- 17 percent of gross income for one child
- 25 percent for two children
- 29 percent for three children
- 31 percent for four children
- 34 percent for five or more children
If the parents have a custody arrangement by which the non-custodial parent has at least 92 overnight visits a year, then the amount of child support will be less than the percentages above.
Child support often involves very complex calculations. In addition to determining what percentage is appropriate, our Wisconsin divorce lawyers work to determine the true gross income of each parent so that a fair and proper support schedule can be determined.
Modification of Child Support
After the initial calculation of child support, you, your ex and your children will move forward. Circumstances may change, requiring the payment amount to change as well. We help people seek support modifications for many reasons, including:
- Career changes, reduction in work hours or layoffs
- Relocating/moving away
- Unanticipated health issues for the child or the paying parent
Contact Us for More Information on the Child Support Guidelines
To learn more about the Wisconsin child support system and how the guidelines apply to your family, please call our family law attorneys at
(920) 684-6694 to arrange a free consultation. You can also
contact our law firm online. We represent families from Green Bay, Fond du Lac, Appleton, Oshkosh, and throughout the area.
