Divorce, Family Law, and Mediation
Practice Areas
Knowledgeable Attorneys
The attorneys and staff at Renée E. Mura, S.C. understand that divorce actions are challenging, both financially and emotionally. As such, a spouse seeking a divorce needs the best possible legal advice in the divorce proceedings. The smart, aggressive, and highly skilled attorneys at the law firm of Renée E. Mura, S.C. utilize their understanding of the law and the divorce process to assist their clients and fight for the best interests of their client’s children. Our attorneys listen to your precise needs and are committed to helping you achieve your goals both in and out of court. When you have a high-stress situation and a detail-oriented process, you need a highly skilled attorney who is looking out for your best interests. Whether you are settling in mediation or your case goes to trial, our attorneys utilize their extensive experience in family law to get our clients results.
“No-Fault” Divorce
Wisconsin is a “no-fault” divorce state, meaning one spouse does not have to prove adultery, abandonment, or any other substantial fault by the other spouse to file for divorce. In other words, one party in a marriage can petition to end a marriage without having to provide evidence of any wrongdoing by the other party. The only ground for divorce in Wisconsin is that the marriage is irretrievably broken by one partner. As long as one spouse testifies under oath that the marriage is irretrievably broken, a divorce can be granted even if the other spouse does not agree. The issues of custody, placement, child support, maintenance, and property division will be determined by the specific facts in your case. Our team of divorce lawyers will listen to you and provide the best legal advice and representation that you need.
Family Law
Renee E. Mura, S.C. specializes in all facets of Family Law in Wisconsin, including divorce law, child custody & placement, paternity, and much more. Our experienced attorneys participate in complex Family Law cases every day and provide highly skilled representation to all of our clients.
The child custody lawyers at Renee E. Mura S.C. are skilled in litigation of child custody, placement, visitation, and support cases. The experience, dedication, and integrity of the attorneys and staff at Renee E. Mura, S.C. makes them the best advocates for their clients in child custody and physical placement cases.
Under Wisconsin law, courts start with the presumption that joint legal custody is in the best interests of the child, however, this presumption can be overcome. The attorneys at Renée E. Mura S.C. are experienced in litigating these types of disputes and understand how to use evaluations, brief writing, motion practice and experts, if necessary, to advocate for their clients and their minor children.
In Wisconsin, children are entitled to periods of physical placement with both parents unless it is proven that a parent is a danger to the child’s physical, mental, or emotional wellbeing. Many factors are considered when determining the physical placement schedule. The family law attorneys and staff at Renée E. Mura, S.C. are committed to their clients and to ensuring that every effort is made to protect the best interests of the children at the heart of these disputes.
Whether you are a father who wants to have custody or placement of your child, a mother who needs the father of your child to pay child support, or have other reasons for wanting fatherhood established, the Kenosha paternity lawyers at Renee E. Mura, S.C. can help. The attorneys at Renee E. Mura, S.C. are experienced in establishing paternity.
Establishing paternity is important to protect the rights of all parties involved, including the mother, father, and child. The attorneys at Renée E. Mura, S.C. are experienced in both establishing paternity and disputing paternity establishments. Furthermore, the Family Law attorneys at our firm are not only knowledgeable in the process of establishing or contesting paternity, they are also highly skilled attorneys in both negotiating and litigating the issues of custody, placement and support which follow the establishment of paternity.
After your divorce has been finalized, a court has the ability to make post-judgment modifications. A post-judgment modification can make changes to child placement schedules, child support, child custody, spousal maintenance (also known as alimony), and dependency exemptions. If you feel judgments made during your divorce, or initial custody and placement orders, are no longer fair or are no longer in the best interests of your child(ren), our Racine and Kenosha post-judgment attorneys will evaluate your case and fight for the results you and your family need.
If a party violates an order set forth by the court involving child support, spousal support, placement or custody, there are legal remedies that can be used to force compliance and ensure future compliance such as contempt of court. The experienced and aggressive Wisconsin custody modification attorneys at Renée E. Mura, S.C. know how to use the legal remedies available, and how to craft those remedies to best suit the needs of their clients.
Our firm represents parents who are seeking child support or who need representation on child support or other financial issues concerning their children. The statutes provide for a variety of calculations considering both placement time a parent has with their child or children and the parents’ respective incomes. Our firm has extensive experience in calculating these orders, as well as determining variable expenses, and which parent should be allowed to claim their child or children as a tax dependency exemption on their tax returns each year.
Given the changing nature of the family and the increased role others are taking in the family, Guardianship actions are becoming an increasingly important way to protect children. Our guardianship attorneys understand the law in this area and will help you understand if a guardianship action is an option for you.
Given the changing nature of the family and the increased role that grandparents are taking in the family, grandparent visitation is becoming an increasingly important way to protect children. Our grandparent rights and visitation attorneys understand the law in this area and will help you understand if a grandparent action is an option for you.
Terminating a parent’s rights to their child is a complex legal process. The family law attorneys at Renée E. Mura, S.C. are able to assist you through this process. Our experienced attorneys are highly skilled in voluntary and involuntary termination of parental rights cases resulting in adoption. Our termination of parental rights and step-parent adoption lawyers are committed to ensuring the best results for our clients.
The most common form of adoption in Wisconsin is step-parent adoption. If both of the child’s biological parents are still living, these cases must begin with a termination of one of the parent’s rights. The family law attorneys at Renée E. Mura, S.C. are highly skilled in this very challenging area of the law. Almost all contested family law cases are decided by a judge, not a jury. Termination of Parental Rights cases, or TPR’s, are the exception to this rule. While a judge will ultimately make the determination to terminate or not terminate the parent’s rights at the conclusion of a TPR action, a portion of the proceedings known as the grounds phase can be decided by a jury. Our accomplished lawyers are experienced in presenting cases to a jury. These skills are invaluable in this type of family law case, and very few family law attorneys have the experience and history of success that you will find at Renée E. Mura. S.C.
Our firm represents parents who have had their children removed from their care and been involved with the department of social services, as well as those person(s) who have placement of children that have been removed and are seeking a more permanent placement, guardianship, or termination of parental rights. Our firm has the knowledge and skill to represent our clients from the initial hearing through trial and disposition.
The attorneys at Renée E. Mura, S.C. have handled numerous appeals in the family court realm. From child support issues to guardianship actions to divorce issues, our firm has aggressively fought for our clients from the trial court level all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Our firm has fought both to clarify the law and to correct erroneous decisions from trial court judges. In addition, our firm has represented clients by successfully defending them in appeals which challenged trial court decisions favorable to our clients. The attorneys at Renée E. Mura, S.C. are committed to achieving the best results for their clients. Their passion, extensive knowledge of the law and skill in legal brief writing, serves their clients well at the appellate level.
What Is Mediation?
Mediation is a private, voluntary, problem-solving process that utilizes the assistance of a neutral mediator to help couples navigate through their divorce and other family law issues.
Is Mediation Right For Me?
Parties who are looking to file for divorce efficiently and amicably are best suited for mediation. Mediation is an effective means of finding common ground to mutually work towards a resolution outside of the court and provides parties more control over decisions made through the divorce process.
How Does Mediation Work?
A neutral third party mediator meets with the parties to discuss outstanding issues in the case. The mediator does not act as a judge and does not represent either parties’ interests. Instead, the mediator helps guide parties through a facilitative discussion relating to issues in their case, allowing each parties side to be heard. The mediator also educates the parties on applicable laws in Wisconsin and can use child support and maintenance calculators that take into account tax implications. If an agreement is reached, the mediator will draft a Marital Settlement Agreement reflecting the parties agreement reached during mediation and file it with the court.
What Are The Benefits To A Mediated Divorce?
The mediation process is completely confidential and non-binding. Parties are able to converse freely in a neutral setting without fearing that their words will be used against them in the future. If mediation is unsuccessful, the discussions during mediation cannot be brought up later in court.
Mediation can save parties a great deal of time versus waiting for a judge or commissioner to hear their case and decide their issues on a heavily burdened court docket. Also, mediation can be far more affordable than a litigious divorce action.
During mediation, parties are able to reach resolutions that are unique to their particular situations. Parties are also typically more satisfied with mediation outcomes since their input was heard during the decision making and is an agreement that each party can live with instead of an agreement made by a judge. Mediation allows the parties as much time as they need to reach a resolution that best suits their situation. Parties who have participated in mediation have found that dissolving their marriage was less adversarial and stressful opposed to litigation proceedings.
Renée E. Mura, S.C.
Did You Know?
We also offer services for Real Estate Evictions, Restraining Orders, Juvenile Law, Termination of Parental Rights, Step-Parent Adoption, & More!