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Legal custody refers to which parent - -if not both -- makes major decisions regarding the child, such as non-emergency medical procedures, school attendance, religious training and permission to marry or drive. If only one parent is going to make these decisions, she has sole, or primary, legal custody. If not specifically mentioned in your divorce decree or custody order, however, then joint legal custody is the default and both parents are responsible for making the big decisions, just as they still lived together.

Placement schedules can be either traditional or shared. With a traditional schedule, one parent has primary placement and the other parent has periods of placement, or visitation. With shared placement, the children spend roughly equal amounts of time with each parent. Whichever parent the child lives with on a given day is solely responsible for decisions that are not major, such as bed times, play times and discipline.

If the parents cannot agree on shared physical placement or who is going to have primary placement, Wisconsin law requires that they meet with a mediator at least once to try to work out their differences. If they still can t agree, the court will intervene. This can be a long, drawn-out process involving a special attorney appointed to represent the best interests of the children.

In some Wisconsin counties, social workers might also get involved to perform custody evaluations and make recommendations as to which of parent should have primary placement.

Wisconsin discourages parents from changing custody arrangements after they have agreed on a placement schedule and the court has signed it into an order. The state has a two-year law that tries to preserve some sense of stability for the children. Barring extreme circumstances, the court will not rule on a new placement schedule until two years have elapsed since the last schedule was implemented. Parents need significant evidence of a great change in circumstances for the court to approve a change before that time has passed.