822.29.Information to be submitted to court.

Section 822.29 requires early, sworn disclosure from every party to a custody proceeding. Subsection (1) requires each party, in their first pleading or an attached affidavit, to state, if reasonably ascertainable, the child’s present address or whereabouts, the places the child has lived over the last five years, and the names and current addresses of the people the child lived with during that period. Each party must also declare, under oath, whether they have participated in another proceeding concerning the child’s custody, placement, or visitation, whether they know of any other proceeding that could affect the current case, including enforcement actions, domestic violence or protective order matters, termination of parental rights, or adoptions, and whether they know of any non-party who has physical custody of the child or claims custody or visitation rights, giving names and addresses for each.

Subsection (2) gives the court a tool when this information is missing: it may stay the proceeding, on a party’s motion or its own, until the information is furnished. Subsection (3) requires additional sworn detail if any of the declarations in subsection (1) is affirmative, and lets the court examine the parties under oath about the details and about other matters relevant to jurisdiction and disposition.

Subsection (4) makes the disclosure duty continuing: each party must keep informing the court of any proceeding, in Wisconsin or elsewhere, that could affect the current case, not just at the outset. Subsection (5) protects safety: if a party alleges under oath that disclosing identifying information would jeopardize a party’s or the child’s health, safety, or liberty, that information is sealed and withheld from the other party and the public, unless the court, after a hearing weighing those interests, orders it disclosed in the interest of justice.