Divorce – Child Placement Order Change

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WI Court of Appeals – District III

Case Name: Emmalee Ann Biehl v. Nathan David Hyde

Case No.: 2021AP000868

Officials: HRUZ, J.

Focus: Divorce – Child Placement Order Change

Biehl appeals an order increasing Hyde’s physical placement of the parties’ then nearly eight-year-old daughter, which resulted in the parties having equal placement of the child. Biehl argues that the circuit court should not have modified placement because Hyde failed to establish a substantial change of circumstances since their original divorce judgment and because he failed to rebut the presumption that continuing the originally ordered periods of physical placement was in the child’s best interest.

The court concludes that Hyde has established a substantial change of circumstances. Since the original divorce judgment, Hyde has relocated much closer to his daughter and has purchased his own home; he obtained a new job allowing him to work from home and to set his own work schedule, which permits him to spend more time with his daughter and reduces her need for childcare. He has married a woman who also works from home, and they have one child together. Although some of these changes, in some way, may be related to Hyde’s economic circumstances and marital status or the child’s natural aging, the court concludes that the circumstances in this case are sufficient.

Affirmed.

Decided 10/18/22

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