Commencing a Wisconsin lawsuit: file first, then serve within 90 days
Wisconsin procedure · Last verified August 17, 2026
Wisconsin's commencement rule has a condition buried in the middle of it that does most of the damage in practice. The action is commenced when you file — provided service happens within 90 days.
Miss the 90 days and the commencement that saved your limitations period evaporates.
The rule
Wis. Stat. § 801.02(1):
A civil action in which a personal judgment is sought is commenced as to any defendant when a summons and a complaint naming the person as defendant are filed with the court, provided service of an authenticated copy of the summons and of the complaint is made upon the defendant under this chapter within 90 days after filing.
Four elements, and each is load-bearing:
- Commencement is on filing — that is the date that matters for limitations.
- As to any defendant — commencement runs defendant by defendant, not case-wide.
- An authenticated copy must be served. Not a photocopy: authentication is a formal step, and an unauthenticated copy is a recurring defect.
- Within 90 days after filing, and the condition is expressed as a proviso — so it operates on the commencement itself.
For in rem and quasi in rem actions, § 801.02(2) is parallel, with the option of serving "either the complaint or a notice of object of action under s. 801.12", again within 90 days.
What gets filed and served together
§ 801.02(3):
The original summons and complaint shall be filed together. The authenticated copies shall be served together except: (a) In actions in which a personal judgment is sought, if the summons is served by publication, only the summons need be published, but a copy of the complaint shall be mailed with a copy of the summons as required by s. 801.11 …
Filed together, served together. The publication exception is narrow: only the summons is published, but the complaint still has to be mailed with it.
How to serve a person
§ 801.11 sets a strict hierarchy, and the second tier is only available once the first has failed:
A court of this state having jurisdiction of the subject matter and grounds for personal jurisdiction as provided in s. 801.05 may exercise personal jurisdiction over a defendant by service of a summons as follows:
(1) NATURAL PERSON. Except as provided in sub. (2) upon a natural person:
(a) By personally serving the summons upon the defendant either within or without this state.
(b) If with reasonable diligence the defendant cannot be served under par. (a), then by leaving a copy of the summons at the defendant's usual place of abode: 1. In the presence of some competent member of the family at least 14 years of age, who shall be informed of the contents thereof; 1m. In the presence of a competent adult, currently residing in the abode of the defendant, who shall be informed of the contents of the summons; or 2. Pursuant to the law for the substituted service of summons or like process upon defendants in actions brought in courts of general jurisdiction of the state in which service is made.
Three points that decide validity:
Personal service works anywhere — "either within or without this state." There is no need to catch the defendant in Wisconsin.
Abode service requires reasonable diligence first. It is conditional on personal service not being achievable, and that condition is part of the statute rather than a practice norm.
The person left with must be told what it is. Both routes require that the recipient "shall be informed of the contents", and the family-member route sets a minimum age of 14 — lower than most states.
| Tier | Method | Condition |
|---|---|---|
| First | personal service, in or out of state | none |
| Second | abode service on a competent family member aged 14+ | only if reasonable diligence fails |
| Second (alt) | abode service on a competent adult residing there | only if reasonable diligence fails |
| Second (alt) | substituted service under the law of the state where service is made | only if reasonable diligence fails |
The three dates to hold in your head
| Date | What it is |
|---|---|
| Filing | commencement, as to each defendant named |
| Filing + 90 days | the outer limit for serving an authenticated copy |
| Service | when personal jurisdiction actually attaches |
Because commencement is conditional, the safest way to think about it is that filing provisionally commences the action and service confirms it.
How Wisconsin compares
| Wisconsin | Minnesota | Illinois | Federal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commencement | filing | service | filing | filing |
| Time to serve | 90 days | — | reasonable diligence | 90 days |
| Consequence of missing it | commencement fails as to that defendant | — | dismissal on motion | dismissal without prejudice |
| Authenticated copy required | yes | no | no | no |
| Abode service conditional on diligence | yes | — | — | no |
| Minimum age of abode recipient | 14 | — | 13 | discretion |
Wisconsin and Minnesota are worth comparing directly, because they are neighbors that do the opposite thing: Minnesota commences on service and then requires filing within a year; Wisconsin commences on filing and requires service within 90 days.
A short checklist
- File the summons and complaint together, and treat the filing date as your commencement date.
- Diarise 90 days from filing for every defendant separately.
- Serve authenticated copies — check that the clerk has authenticated them before they go out.
- Serve the summons and complaint together, except where the summons is published, in which case the complaint is mailed.
- Try personal service first, in or out of state; abode service is only available once reasonable diligence has failed.
- On abode service, confirm the recipient qualifies — a competent family member at least 14, or a competent adult currently residing there — and that they were told what the papers are.
- Document the diligence. If abode service is challenged, the attempts at personal service are the record that supports it.
- Check grounds for personal jurisdiction under s. 801.05 before relying on out-of-state personal service.
Where these rules live
- Wis. Stat. § 801.02 — Commencement of action
- Wis. Stat. § 801.05 — Personal jurisdiction, grounds for generally
- Wis. Stat. § 801.11 — Personal jurisdiction, manner of serving summons for
- Wis. Stat. § 801.12 — Notice of object of action
- Wis. Stat. § 801.14 — Service and filing of pleadings and other papers
- Wis. Stat. § 802.06 — Defenses and objection to pleadings
This page explains what the statute says. It isn't legal advice, and the limitations periods that make the commencement date matter — including s. 893.02 — sit in chapter 893, outside this site's Wisconsin corpus of chapters 801 to 847.