Family – notice – residence — overtrial

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Wisconsin Court of Appeals

Civil

Family – notice – residence — overtrial

A circuit court can order a parent to reside in a particular school district as a condition of retaining primary placement.

“We conclude that Groh and Derleth do not control this case due to the unique fact situation here. To begin, neither Groh nor Derleth say anything about a situation where a circuit court is ordering a parent to move to Wisconsin, and Shulka does not address that issue. More importantly, however, the facts in both Groh and Derleth were that the circuit court was making an initial decision ordering the mother to establish or maintain residency closer to the father. Groh, 110 Wis. 2d at 119-21; Derleth, 352 Wis. 2d 51, ¶¶5-6. In this case, however, the circuit court’s decision ordering Shulka to move back to the Wood School District was made in the context of the initial approval of her move to Illinois and the fact that the approval, as the circuit court noted, ‘was conditioned upon certain facts that never came true’ and that the FCC’s 2012 order, which was based on Shulka’s represented facts, was ‘frustrated.’ Although Sikraji’s motion was filed as a motion to modify instead of a motion for reconsideration, the circuit court was also appropriately considering the FCC’s initial order approving Shulka’s move to Illinois in light of Shulka’s representations to the FCC, which she never brought to fruition. Further, with a waiting list for out-of-district children to enroll in Woods School and the new school year about to begin when the de novo hearing concluded on August 9, 2013, Shulka never suggested to the circuit court (or us) how else the court could have accomplished its best-interests-of-the-children goals of getting the children into the Wood School District schools to properly address their autistic and educational needs and maintaining primary placement with Shulka. Based on the unique facts of this case, the court did not err in ordering that the children be re-enrolled in the Wood School District schools and that Shulka return to that district so their enrollment could be accomplished while continuing their primary placement with her.”

Affirmed.

Recommended for publication in the official reports.

2013AP2080 Shulka v. Sikraji

Dist. II, Walworth County, Koss, J., Gundrum, J.

Attorneys: For Appellant: Ziemer, David, Glendale; For Respondent: Johnson, Daniel Steven, Lake Geneva; Thelen, Martha Jane, Lake Geneva