Wisconsin Civil Court Records

Wisconsin Court System has four kinds of courts: the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals, Municipal Courts, and Circuit Courts. The Circuit Courts are where trials happen, and the Court of Appeal is the next appeals court level.

Anyone can go to the Circuit Court with a civil case. Aside from criminal cases, this court holds exclusive trials and hearings for most civil cases, domestic relations, and juvenile cases in the state. Following the conclusion of the hearings, the Circuit Court will decide in favor of one side.

The losing party can ask the Court of Appeal to review the lower court's decision, or they can file a "Petition to Bypass" to go straight to the Court of Appeal. With a petition to bypass, the case goes straight to the Supreme Court instead of the Court of Appeals.

The state's Supreme Court can also decide to look into a case appealed to the intermediate appellate court. In the courts of Wisconsin, this is called "Direct Review". With a Petition for Review, the losing party in a Court of Appeal case can ask the Supreme Court to hear the matter.

Any information and documents during the state civil proceedings will be part of the Wisconsin Civil Court Records. But are these court records available to you?

According to the Wisconsin Open Records Law, you can look at or get copies of any records kept by government agencies. However, some documents may not be public due to information about law enforcement and investigations, state or federal laws, the fact that the person in the record is a minor, or because it would be an invasion of privacy to release the information.

Bankruptcy is a legal process that debtors use to stop creditors from taking action against them. In Wisconsin, bankruptcy is a case that goes before the Federal Court.

Wisconsin Bankruptcy Records document these bankruptcy cases in the state. It has the following information:

• Names and contact details of the debtor and creditor/s
• Bankruptcy type
• Filing date and jurisdictional courthouse address
• Active debtor property liens and mortgages
• Taxes, financial accounts, liabilities, assets, expenditures, and income
• Credit counseling notifications
• Repayment plans

Wisconsin Bankruptcy Records may have varied information depending on the types of bankruptcy filed by the debtor, and the most common bankruptcy filings in the state are as follows:

Chapter 7 Bankruptcy

In Wisconsin Chapter 7 bankruptcy, you can get rid of all your debts and start over. In this bankruptcy, the trustee gathers all of your assets and sells all non-exempt assets. After giving you any exempted sum, the trustee distributes the net liquidation funds to creditors for a commission.

Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

A Chapter 11 case enables a business to keep operating and offers a plan to restructure its repayments by liquidating or selling its assets.

However, a debtor needs approval from the creditor/s before implementing the plan. The debtor must show it can maintain cash flow and meet plan payments.

Chapter 13 Bankruptcy

Chapter 13 bankruptcy in Wisconsin allows a debtor to submit a 3-5-year repayment plan to creditors using future income. It may help them avoid foreclosure, catch up on vehicle or mortgage payments, pay back taxes, halt tax interest, and maintain valued non-exempt property.

How To Find Wisconsin Bankruptcy Records?

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court handles bankruptcy matters in Wisconsin, and there are two district courts in the state: the Eastern and Western District Bankruptcy Courts.

The Eastern District has courthouses in Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Oshkosh, while the courts for the Western District are in Madison and Eau Claire.

Getting bankruptcy records in Wisconsin is the same for both the Eastern and Western District Bankruptcy Courts. You can get these records in three ways.

You can use the self-service terminals by going to the courthouse. You can look up documents for free, but copies cost about 10 cents per page. If you want copies of records, send a letter or call the Court Clerk's Office.

With the Public Access to Court Electronic Records Portal (PACER), you can get records without going to the courthouse. Both the Western and Eastern Districts have their PACER pages.

If you want to see cases from as far back as 2003, go to the National Archives or the Federal Records Center. Most of the time, you'll find records from Madison and Eau Claire courthouses.

In Wisconsin, a property lien is a legal claim on an asset owned by a debtor as part of a contract. With this lien, creditors can take the property as payment for the debt.

In Wisconsin, liens can be either voluntary or involuntary. Lending money is an instance when a voluntary lien arrangement is necessary. On the other hand, tax payment is a perfect example of an involuntary lien.

Here are the brief descriptions of the most common lien types in Wisconsin Property Lien Records:

Tax Lien

A Wisconsin tax lien is a lien on someone's assets for not paying federal or state taxes. Federal tax liens are legal claims that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) puts on the property of tax debtors in Wisconsin.

On the other hand, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue sends tax liens or warrants to people who haven't paid their state taxes on time. Income taxes, property taxes, and business taxes owed to the state government all count as state tax liens.

Construction and Mechanic's Lien

Construction and mechanic's liens are legal ways to ensure contractors, subcontractors, merchants, laborers, or material suppliers who improve someone else's property receive the appropriate payment.

These liens provide home building contractors and auto repair businesses a security interest in the homeowner's property and vehicle. ​

Mortgage Lien

A mortgage lien in Wisconsin is the initial lien on real estate. This type of lien provides the mortgage lender the power to repossess the property if the borrower fails to pay the debt.

UCC Lien

In Wisconsin, lenders often record a UCC (Uniform Commercial Code) lien, also known as a UCC-1 filing or UCC financing statement, to publicize a lien placed on a loan supplied to a borrower.

This lien protects creditors by selling the defaulting debtor's collateral.

In Chapter 779 of the Wisconsin Statutes, you can learn more about Wisconsin's types of liens.

How To Check Wisconsin Property Lien Records?

You can check these Wisconsin Civil Court Records with the Register of Deeds office in the county where the property sits. Anyone can get these public records, usually for a fee.

Other county recorders' offices have tools on their website where you can search online for a specific property lien record.

For liens like state tax and UCC liens, you can ask the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and the Department of Financial Institutions, respectively. In UCC liens, you can get help through UCC agents in each county.

Most traffic violations in Wisconsin are civil driving violation records. These violation records, also called traffic infractions, are less severe than state traffic misdemeanors and felonies.

Some examples of Wisconsin Civil Driving Violation Records are as follows:

• Left-lane driving
• Illegally entering a split highway
• Failure to yield to oncoming cars
• Not yielding to pedestrians
• Improperly making a right turn
• Not stopping at a stop sign
• ignoring school crossing guards

These infractions result in points added to the driver's record rather than substantial penalties or prison time. Most fines range from $213 to $263.

Courts settle all citations and transmit them to the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The Wisconsin DMV keeps this information to decide when to revoke a license. A driver's accumulated points usually prompt more severe action, but a single conviction might force the DMV to suspend a license.

How To Look Up Wisconsin Civil Driving Violation Records?

The DMV is where you can look up Wisconsin Civil Driving Violation Records. This division is part of the Department of Transportation (WisDOT) and is responsible for making and sharing traffic records. You can look up these records online or by mail with WisDOT and the DMV. Note that the department does not currently offer any ways to look up information in person.

You can find Wisconsin traffic records online through a driver's license status check. To get the history, you must provide your full name, birth date, driver's license, and social security number. Note that you can't download the driving records that you will find on WisDOT's status check website.

Alternatively, you can request the record through the Public Abstract Request System (PARS), driver search service, or vehicle search service.

The PARS is free to use, but you must first set up user accounts. On the other hand, you will get the records by email if you use the vehicle or driver search. But there's a $5 convenience fee for this request.

In Wisconsin, if you want a complete traffic record, you must fill out a request form and pay the appropriate fee, which is $5 for non-certified vehicle records and $10 for certified ones. You can use the money orders or checks made to "Registration Fee Trust" to send the payment and the application to WisDOT by mail.

A Wisconsin Legal Judgment Record summarizes court rulings, court proceedings and filings, appeals from a lower court, and records maintained by the clerk or other court officials.

In Wisconsin law, a judgment is the court's decision about the liabilities or rights of parties engaged in a legal case. It is the conclusion or decision reached by a court or judge. The judge renders the decision, which is always firmly founded on the facts of the case.

The Wisconsin Administrative Code and the Wisconsin Statutes administer judgment laws in the state. They explain the legal process by which a judge can settle a case, and the parties involved can get the judge's decision.

A judgment in Wisconsin can stay on the record for up to 20 years. On the other hand, it can remain on a debtor's credit report for up to 7 years or until the statute of limitation expires.

How To Look Up Wisconsin Legal Judgment Records?

If you want to look at a legal judgment record in Wisconsin, the first thing to do is to find the courthouse that kept the records. You can use the Court System directories to look for the appropriate courts' locations, websites, and other information. After that, send your request to the Clerk of Court.

In the case of electronically stored records, you can use the public access terminals in the clerks of the court's offices.

According to state laws, you must pay a fee to see paper documents, like certified copies of court documents or the original court documents.

A Wisconsin Small Claims Record is an official document about a case in Small Claims Court. In small claims cases, these records include the pleadings, information about the parties, judgments, information about the judge in charge, audio recordings, transcripts, docket sheets, etc.

The Wisconsin Small Claims Court hears civil cases where the plaintiff is not asking for more than $10,000 in damages or less than $5,000 for personal injury claims, tort actions, and third-party complaints.

In Wisconsin, any individual or business engaged in a property or monetary dispute can utilize the state courts to settle the disagreement. The case may include the return of a security deposit, a warranty, a faulty check, or an injured party's refusal to pay.

A person in Wisconsin may file several types of small claims proceedings, and each case has a unique filing method, filing cost, and venue. Thus, it is essential to contact the county clerk's office or obtain legal counsel to identify them.

The Wisconsin State Law Library offers links to the small claims websites of the court clerks, where you, the plaintiff, can discover information on local small claims court filing processes, frequently asked questions (FAQs), and other resources.

How To Look Up Wisconsin Small Claims Records?

Small Claim Courts are the division of the Circuit Courts in Wisconsin. Thus, the official custodians of these Wisconsin Civil Court Records are the Circuit Court Clerks.

You can find the Circuit Court Clerks' Offices, phone numbers, and websites on the clerk contact page of the Wisconsin Court System's website.

You must call, mail, or visit the proper clerk's office if you want copies of a small claims court record. You must give them specific case information, such as the case number, to readily locate the document.

A Wisconsin divorce, also known as marital dissolution, occurs when two spouses split that legally end the marriage.

To petition for divorce in Wisconsin, you or your spouse must have resided in the state for at least six months and in the filing county for at least 30 days before filing.

You can learn more about Wisconsin divorce in this guide. Similarly, court forms and other divorce and family law resources are on this Wisconsin Court System's page.

During the divorce proceeding in Wisconsin, the record custodians will keep all information and documents in Wisconsin Divorce Court Records. You can get these divorce court records in the following forms:

Divorce Certificate

This Wisconsin Divorce Court Record has the least amount of information. It only has names, dates, and places on it. Anyone can see this record, but you must pay to get a certified hard copy.

People ask for this certificate to change their name or get another marriage certificate.

Divorce Decree

This court record has more information than the divorce certificate. Apart from the data presented in the certificate, it has information on the property, insurance, alimony or child support payments, and custody agreements.

Usually, only the two people getting divorced and their lawyers can see these records.

Divorce Record

This record is the complete set of the case file for a divorce in Wisconsin. It has every file, transcript, witness statement, and contract shown during the proceedings.

Like divorce decrees, these documents may be available online, but to get a physical, certified copy, you will need to fill out a request form and follow the procedures to request this type of record.

How To Look Up Wisconsin Divorce Court Records?

The Wisconsin Vital Records Office is in charge of keeping divorce court records up to date and getting them to the right people. The county's offices of the Register of Deeds also have these records.

To get a copy of a divorce court record in person or by mail from the Department of Health Services. Fill out a request form, and send it to the mail address of the Vital Records Office with any fees and a copy of a valid ID card, and they will send you the information you need.

For complete records of all divorce cases, ask the County Clerk's Office where the divorce happened.

Probate is the court-supervised distribution of a dead person's assets. A Wisconsin Probate Court Record has all the documents the court made and the papers given to the court. Most of the time, these are:

• All wills admitted to probate
• Testamentary trusts
• Estates of the deceased
• Protective placements
• Guardianships
• A final accounting

These records have information about the person who died, who the beneficiaries are, and if there were any legal actions related to the estate. Some court records may also have the names and contact information of the executor, the beneficiaries, and the people who owe money to the estate.

Wisconsin requires probate for wills and estates above $50,000. If your estate is under $50,000, it may be handled without probate.

You can learn more about probate proceedings in the state through this handbook prepared by the Wisconsin Register in Probate Association. Also, on the Wisconsin State Law Library website, you can find more information about state probate law.

Where can you find Wisconsin Probate Court Records? The best place to start a search for probate is at the county level. Generally, the county Register in Probate keeps these records.

Generally, the first step to looking up Wisconsin Civil Court Records is to find the court that kept and filed the records. You can use the Court System directories to look for the appropriate courts' locations, websites, and other information.

In Wisconsin, the Clerks of Court are in charge of these court records. After finding the courthouse, the next step in getting a court record is requesting the Clerk of Court for a copy.

You can also look up a civil case in person using the electronic case files at public access terminals in the Clerks of Court's offices.

Lastly, you can find more information about a case online using the free Wisconsin Court Systems' Case Search. Through the Wisconsin Circuit Court Access (WCCA), you can get electronic copies of civil case records in the state. It lets a user look up information about a court case by giving the party name, the business name, or the case number.