806.245.Indian tribal documents: full faith and credit.

Section 806.245 extends full faith and credit to the judicial records, orders, and judgments of an Indian tribal court in Wisconsin, and to the acts of a tribal legislative body, the same as the acts, records, orders, and judgments of any other governmental entity, but only when five conditions are met: the tribe creating the court and legislative body is organized under the federal statutes governing tribal organization; the tribal documents are properly authenticated; the tribal court is a court of record; the judgment offered is a valid judgment; and the tribal court certifies that it extends the same full faith and credit to Wisconsin court records, orders, and judgments and to the acts of other Wisconsin governmental entities.

Authentication works differently depending on the document. Copies of acts of a tribal legislative body must be authenticated by the certificate of the tribal chairperson and tribal secretary. Copies of records, orders, and judgments of a tribal court must be authenticated by the attestation of the clerk of that court, with the court’s seal, if it has one, affixed to the attestation.

Wisconsin’s circuit court decides whether a tribal court qualifies as a court of record by looking at whether it keeps a permanent record of its proceedings, whether a transcript or electronic recording of the relevant proceeding is available, whether its final judgments are reviewable by a superior court, and whether it has authority to enforce its own orders through contempt proceedings. To determine whether a tribal court judgment is valid, the circuit court, on its own motion or a party’s motion, may examine the tribal court record to confirm the tribal court had jurisdiction over the subject matter and the person named in the judgment, that the judgment is final under the rendering court’s law, that it is on the merits, that it was procured without fraud, duress, or coercion, that it followed the rendering court’s required procedures, and that the tribal court’s proceedings complied with the federal Indian Civil Rights Act.

The practical consequence is a gatekeeping rule: no lien or attachment based on a tribal court judgment may be filed, entered in the judgment and lien docket, or recorded in Wisconsin against a person’s real or personal property unless a circuit court has already given that judgment full faith and credit under this section. Separate provisions extend full faith and credit to tribal-court proceedings involving Indian child custody and to tribal foreign protection orders under their own governing statutes.