| Court: | WI Supreme Court |
| Facts: | LeMeres were married about 20 years. During the marriage, Michael ran the business and Marcia raised the kids. Time for divorce! |
| Posture: | The circuit court divides all assets equally, but splits the company 65-35%. Affirmed on appeal. Appealed again. |
| Issue: | Did the court exerise its discretion erroneously when it divided things unequally? |
| Holding: | Yes. Reversed and remanded for reconsideration. |
| Rule: | Wis. Stat. § 767.255 lists the factors that have to be considered. |
| Reasoning: | We want to promote the stability and best interests of marriage. There's a strong presumption in favor of equal division of assets. Child-rearing and homemaking are contributions also. The court needs to consider these factors. The court must consider all of the 12 factors that the statute commands, and there's no evidence that they did so. |
| Dicta: | The court isn't required to weigh all factors equally, or compelled to apply them all-- they just have to say. The total division of property, incidentally, was just 54-46%, which isn't that big a deviation from the 50% standard, but they got there without considering all the factors they needed to. |