767.56.Maintenance.
Subch. VI: Support and Maintenance · Last amended 2013 · Current through 2025 Wisconsin Act 247 · Last verified September 8, 2026
Full Text of Section 767.56
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.
Cross-reference: See also notes to s. 767.59 for decisions regarding postjudgment modifications.
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; 1973 c. 12 s. 37; 1977 c. 105; 1979 c. 32 ss. 50, 92 (4); 1979 c. 196; Stats. 1979 s. 767.26; 2005 a. 443 s. 110; Stats. 2005 s. 767.56; 2013 a. 209.
Plain-English Summary
Maintenance — what most people still call alimony — is discretionary, and this section is the whole of the court's guidance.
On a judgment of annulment, divorce or legal separation, or in an action for maintenance itself, the court may order payments to either party for a limited or an indefinite length of time. Before it does, it considers 10 factors: the length of the marriage; the age and the physical and emotional health of the parties; the property division; each party's educational level at the time of the marriage and when the action was started; the earning capacity of the party seeking maintenance, including their education, training, skills, work experience, time out of the job market, custodial responsibilities, and what it would take in time and money to become employable; whether that party can become self-supporting at a standard of living reasonably comparable to the one enjoyed during the marriage, and how long that would take; tax consequences; any mutual agreement under which one party supported the other expecting reciprocation later, if it has not been repaid; one party's contribution to the education, training or earning power of the other; and anything else the court finds relevant in the individual case.
Two things stand out. The list is dominated by the earning-capacity and self-support factors, which between them describe a single question — what it would take for this person to stand on their own. And the closing factor is open, so the list constrains without exhausting.
The end. Unless it has already terminated for another reason, maintenance ends on the death of the payee or the payer, whichever comes first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Wisconsin have alimony?
It has maintenance. The court may order payments to either party for a limited or an indefinite length of time after considering the factors this section lists.
What does the court consider?
10 factors, including the length of the marriage, the parties' age and health, the property division, education, earning capacity, the feasibility and likely timescale of becoming self-supporting, tax consequences, mutual agreements, contributions to the other's earning power, and anything else relevant.
Can maintenance be permanent?
It may be ordered for a limited or an indefinite length of time.
Does maintenance stop when someone dies?
Yes. Unless already terminated for another reason, it ends on the death of the payee or the payer, whichever occurs first.