How do I start the process of getting full custody? 23 Answers as of October 28, 2011

The District Court Family Division has a self help center that may provide the necessary forms and provides some general legal information. My office is well-experienced in these matters and provides free consultations.

File for disso or paternity. Draft a stipulation & order as to custody terms.

File for sole legal and physical custody. If you are unmarried, you must file a petition for paternity if you have not already done so.

If Mom agrees or not, you need to file a Petition seeking conservatorship (A Suit to Modify the Parent-Child Relationship) in a court of competent jurisdiction and if Mom is in agreement, then get an order signed by her ASAP.

You can file a petition for change of custody. (A change of custody assumes that there is a custody order in place, as a result of a divorce or legitimation. If you never legitimated the children, and were not married to the mother, you would need to file an action for legitimation instead.) You would also have to move to have the grandmother's guardianship terminated.

First you will need to file a Petition to Terminate the Guardianship in the same county that issued the Guardianship Order. Then, you need to file a Petition for Modification of Custody in the Superior Court in the county where the mother and the children reside. If the mother will cooperate in signing a Consent Order giving you primary physical and legal custody of the minor children this should be a relatively straight forward process. I can help you develop a good game plan to accomplish your goals. I would be happy to discuss things with you further in a complimentary and confidential consultation. Please find my contact information below.

You need to hire an attorney. There are too many questions which need to be asked and answered in order to develop a strategy to pursue.

You need a good divorce and family law attorney. I can help you with this. Give me a call, make an appointment to come see me, and let's get moving on this for you. No charge for the telephone call and no charge for the first office visit.

If she has agreed, and you have a prior court case number, a stipulation form can be completed to accomplish this and both of you sign and turn it in. If no prior case number, you can still do a stipulation, but you would also need to file a new action with the county that you live in to have a case number assigned and the stipulation signed as an order. This is for Wisconsin. If you are in another state, the process may be different. Also, even in WI, if there is a guardianship case for the grandmother, that would need to be terminated first.

If you were married to the mother, or if you and she had a paternity case where she was awarded child custody, file a Stipulation and Order in that case modifying child custody. If there never was a case, file a Paternity case, have it served upon the mother, and enter into a Stipulated Judgment which provides you child custody.