767.863.First appearance.
Subch. IX: Paternity · Last amended 2005 · Current through 2025 Wisconsin Act 247 · Last verified September 8, 2026
Full Text of Section 767.863
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.
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: 1979 c. 352; 1983 a. 447 s. 34; Stats. 1983 s. 767.457; 1987 a. 27 ss. 2136t, 2137d, 2137e; Stats. 1987 s. 767.458; 1987 a. 403, 413; 1993 a. 16, 481; 1995 a. 100; 1997 a. 191; 2001 a. 61; 2005 a. 443 ss. 195 to 198, 254; Stats. 2005 s. 767.863.
Plain-English Summary
The first substantive hearing, and where several of the subchapter's hardest questions get asked.
The explanation. If the respondent is present at a hearing before paternity is determined, the court must at least once inform the parties of the items in the summons's notice to parties — what a paternity judgment does, the right to counsel and its limits, the burden of proof, genetic tests, the available defences, the right to a jury, and what happens on a failure to appear.
A child born to a married woman. Where a man other than the husband alleges that he, not the husband, is the father, any party may allege that a judicial determination to that effect is not in the child's best interest. If the court or a supplemental court commissioner so determines, no genetic tests may be ordered and the action is dismissed. This is the marital family's protection, and it is decided before the biology, not after.
Tests. Where a sufficient petition, affidavit or sworn testimony shows probable cause to believe one of the named males had intercourse with the mother during a possible time of conception, the court may order genetic tests, and on any party's request must. Someone already tested under the administrative provision is not retested unless a party asks for additional tests.
An old acknowledgment on file. Where a statement acknowledging paternity signed and filed before April 1, 1998 is on file, the court may enter orders for support, custody and placement at the first appearance, and if the respondent who filed it does not dispute paternity, may enter judgment.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens at the first appearance in a Wisconsin paternity case?
The court informs the parties of the items in the notice to parties, may order genetic tests where probable cause is shown, and may enter orders where a pre-1998 acknowledgment is on file.
Can a man challenge the paternity of a married woman's child?
He may allege that he, not the husband, is the father — but any party may allege that a judicial determination to that effect is not in the child's best interest, and if the court so determines, no genetic tests may be ordered and the action is dismissed.
Must the court order a DNA test if I ask?
Where probable cause of intercourse during a possible time of conception is shown, the court shall order tests on the request of any party.