767.317.Defenses abolished.
Subch. IV: Annulment, Divorce, and Legal Separation · Last amended 2005 · Current through 2025 Wisconsin Act 247 · Last verified September 8, 2026
Full Text of Section 767.317
Amendment History
Wisconsin prints each section’s legislative history as a single “History” line naming every act that created or amended it, and every renumbering. It is reproduced verbatim below.
History: 2005 a. 443 s. 50.
Plain-English Summary
One sentence, and it clears away a whole body of former law. The previously existing defences to divorce and legal separation — including but not limited to condonation, connivance, collusion, recrimination, insanity and lapse of time — are abolished.
Those defences belonged to a fault system: if you had forgiven the adultery, encouraged it, agreed to stage it, or committed one of your own, you could not complain of it. Once the only ground is irretrievable breakdown, none of them has anything to attach to. The list is expressly not exhaustive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my spouse defend against a Wisconsin divorce?
Not on the old grounds. Condonation, connivance, collusion, recrimination, insanity and lapse of time are all abolished, and the list is not exhaustive.
Why were the defences abolished?
They belonged to a fault-based system. Under Section 767.315 the only ground is that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and these defences have nothing to attach to.