Under Wisconsin Statutes, when a parent seeks to relocate out of the state with a minor child or within the state of Wisconsin at a distance greater than 149 miles from the non-moving parent that parent must first provide NOTICE TO OTHER PARENT. If the existing court order grants periods of physical placement to more than one parent, it shall order a parent with legal custody of and physical placement rights to a child to provide not less than 60 days written notice to the other parent, with a copy to the court, of his or her intent to establish his or her legal residence with the child at any location outside the state.

Divorce rates continue to rise and our world grows smaller with each leap in technology making international travel commonplace. With these societal changes, a dramatic increase has been seen in child abductions and child kidnappings by custodial and non-custodial parents. The goal of the abductor in such child abduction and parental   kidnapping cases is to frustrate court proceedings regarding custody.

In Wisconsin there are two types of custody. There is legal custody which refers to the parenting decisions related to the minor children such as where they will attend school, religious decisions and medical decisions. The term physical placement is used to refer to the physical residence where the children will live Under Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 767.24, each parent is entitled to periods of physical placement which refers to the time the children are placed with a particular parent or custodian.

When separated parents live in separate states and have a dispute about the custody of their children, there may arise a question about which state should hear the matter.

If a custodial parent wishes to move with the child out of state or more than 150 miles from the other parent within the state, the custodial parent must give the noncustodial parent 60 days advance written notice by certified mail, with a copy to the court.

In Wisconsin the term "legal custody" refers not to where the children are to live but to the allocation of decision-making authority among the parties with respect to major decisions. The term "physical placement" is used to refer to where the children are to live, and the term "periods of physical placement" refers to the time the children are placed with a particular parent or custodian.

The court may, in a divorce or legal separation action, grant visitation rights or even transfer custody of children to persons other than the parents. I refer to non-parents as "third parties" because they are not parties to the action unless the court allows them to join or intervene in the action.