Family Law

RIZZO & DIERSEN is a law practice that is dedicated to helping resolve family conflicts. We have experience handling a wide range of family law situations, from the significant joys of adoption to the stress of a divorce. We have been serving the family law needs of people in Southeastern Wisconsin for more than thirty years.

We know that family law matters are extremely personal and have a significant emotional impact. Therefore, it is important to hire a family law attorney that you can trust. At RIZZO & DIERSEN we are dedicated to building trusting relationships. Our attorneys know that in many cases, such as a divorce involving children, we will have an on-going relationship with our clients. Our firm provides a wide range of family law services dedicated to assuring that our clients will have experienced and consistent family law representation. Some of the areas we routinely practice include:

• Divorce
• Child support
• Child custody, visitation and placement
• Maintenance or spousal support
• Domestic violence
• Adoption and termination of parental rights
• Contempt and enforcement proceedings
• Marital property division
• Mediation
• Paternity
• Pre and Post Nuptial agreements
• Restraining orders
• CHIPS (Children and Protective Services) cases

• Maintenance/Spousal Support & Property Division

Every divorce includes an allocation of property that has been accumulated during the marriage. While the concept of alimony, now known as maintenance, sounds outdated, the fact is that there are still many marriage relationships where one spouse provides for the support of the other. In those arrangements, it is only proper that the courts, if not the couple themselves, find some way to provide for a continuation of that support for some period of time after the marriage ends. Whether or not this maintenance is ordered depends on a number of factors including:

• The length of the marriage
• The age of each spouse
• The health of each spouse
• The ability of each spouse to be self-supporting
• The income of the primary breadwinner
• The standard of living the parties enjoyed during the marriage
Whether or not one spouse receives maintenance payments from the other is only one issue decided in a divorce action. Equally important as what happens to the property that has been accumulated during the course of the marriage. There are varying situations such as joint business ventures. Other couples have based the professional progress of one spouse on the other spouse's willingness to put their career on hold. These financial trade-offs all get sorted out over the course of a marriage; but when the marriage is over, one spouse finds themselves without pension benefits, without savings and without business assets from which they can earn money to provide for themselves. At RIZZO & DIERSEN, we have come into play to ensure a fair and reasonable division of these assets.

• Domestic Violence
v The most common form of domestic violence occurs when one family member threatens another with physical injury or other violence in an effort to exert control over them. No one should be forced to suffer this type of abuse. This includes such other kinds of conduct as:

• Malicious mischief
• Kidnapping
• Unlawful imprisonment
• Violation of a Restraining Order, No Contact Order, or Protection Order
• Stalking

If, on the other hand, you find yourself accused of domestic violence merely as a tool to obtain a better property settlement or in an effort to cut off your rights to visit your children, you need someone who will fight to protect your rights as a parent and have the court see the accusations for what they are.

• Adoption And Termination Of Parental Rights

As a result of the abundance of divorces and remarriages, there has been an increase in the number of actions brought by stepparents to adopt children from their present spouse's former marriages. In some cases, these proceedings are challenged; but in others, they are not. Whether or not your spouse's children from previous marriages are viewed as your children can determine whether or not they can participate in your work-sponsored benefit programs and whether or not they can legally inherit your property without a will.