822.27.Inconvenient forum.

Section 822.27 gives a Wisconsin court a way to decline jurisdiction it otherwise has, when another state is a better fit for the case. Subsection (1) allows the court to decline jurisdiction at any time it determines it is an inconvenient forum and another state is more appropriate, and the issue can be raised by a party’s motion, the court’s own motion, or a request from another court.

Subsection (2) requires the court to weigh a list of factors before deciding whether it is inconvenient, after letting the parties submit information. Those factors include whether domestic violence has occurred and is likely to continue, and which state could best protect the parties and the child; how long the child has lived outside Wisconsin; the distance between the Wisconsin court and the court that would take over; the parties’ relative financial circumstances; any agreement between the parties about which state should take jurisdiction; the location of the evidence needed to resolve the case, including the child’s testimony; how quickly each court could decide the issue and what procedures it would need; and how familiar each court already is with the facts and issues.

Subsection (3) tells the court what to do once it decides another state is the more appropriate forum: stay the Wisconsin proceeding on the condition that a custody proceeding be commenced promptly in the other state, and impose whatever other conditions it considers just and proper. Subsection (4) covers a related but distinct situation: the court may decline jurisdiction over a custody determination that is incidental to a divorce or other proceeding, while still keeping jurisdiction over that other proceeding.