767.501.Actions to compel support.
Subch. VI: Support and Maintenance · Last amended 2005 · Current through 2025 Wisconsin Act 247 · Last verified September 8, 2026
Full Text of Section 767.501
Official Notes
Wisconsin prints certain labelled notes with the statute — effective-date notes, cross-references, and notes of the Judicial Council. They are reproduced verbatim below. The unlabelled digest of court decisions that the Legislative Reference Bureau prints after them is annotation rather than statute, and is not reproduced.
NOTE: 2005 Wis. Act 443 contains explanatory notes. To find a party estopped from seeking a revision of a stipulation incorporated into a divorce judgment: 1) both parties must have entered into the stipulation knowingly and freely; 2) the overall settlement must be fair and equitable and not illegal or against public policy; and 3) one party subsequently seeks to be released from its terms on grounds that the court could not have entered the order it did without the parties’ agreement. Nichols v. Nichols, 162 Wis. 2d 96, 469 N.W.2d 619 (1991). County child support agencies can initiate actions to compel support under this section without payment of a filing fee. 72 Atty. Gen. 72.
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: 1971 c. 220; 1971 c. 307 s. 116; 1973 c. 237; 1975 c. 82; 1977 c. 105, 271; 1979 c. 32 ss. 50, 92 (4); Stats. 1979 s. 767.08; 1981 c. 317; 1983 a. 27; 1985 a. 29, 176; 1987 a. 413; 1989 a. 212; 1993 a. 481; 1995 a. 27 s. 9126 (19); 1995 a. 201, 404; 1997 a. 27, 35; 1999 a. 162; 2001 a. 16; 2005 a. 443 ss. 42, 216, 217; Stats. 2005 s. 767.501.
Plain-English Summary
Support does not require a divorce. This section is the free-standing action for it, and the list of who may bring it is wider than most people expect: the person's spouse, the minor child, the person with legal custody of the child, and a nonlegally responsible relative — a relative who has taken on the care of a child without legal custody and without breaching any court order. A relative who has the child during a court-ordered visitation period is not one.
What the court does. It determines, under the child support or the maintenance section, what the person should reasonably contribute and how it is to be paid. The amount must be a fixed sum unless the parties stipulated to a percentage of the payer's income and the stipulation requirements are satisfied. It can be revised later on sufficient evidence, and enforced by contempt, by an account transfer, or by the other enforcement machinery of this chapter.
No fee to start. No filing fee or other costs are taxable to the spouse, the child, the custodian or the relative. Once the action is under way the court may order either party to pay all or part of the fees and costs incurred — but nothing stands between a caretaker and the courthouse door.
When the public is paying. If the state or a subdivision furnishes public aid and nobody brings the action, the person in charge of county welfare activities, the county child support agency or the department is a real party in interest and shall commence it. The action is titled “In re the support or maintenance of A.B. (Child)”.
On request of a party the court may also make custody and placement orders here, under the ordinary custody section.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I sue for child support without filing for divorce in Wisconsin?
Yes. This section is a free-standing action to compel support, brought by the spouse, the minor child, the person with legal custody, or a nonlegally responsible relative.
What is a nonlegally responsible relative?
A relative — anyone connected with the child by blood, marriage or adoption — who has assumed responsibility for the child's care without legal custody and without violating a court order. It does not include a relative who has the child during a court-ordered visitation period.
Is there a filing fee?
No filing fee or other costs are taxable to the spouse, the minor child, the custodian or the relative. After the action is commenced the court may order either party to pay all or part of the fees and costs incurred.
What if the state is already paying benefits?
Then the county welfare office, the county child support agency or the department is a real party in interest and shall commence the action.