The conference, hosted by Professor Marygold S. Melli and co-sponsored by Marquette University Law School, will focus on the economic areas addressed by the Divorce Reform Act: Property Division and Spousal Support. Speakers will include former State Representative Mary Lou Munts, former State Senator Kate Morrison, and others who shepherded this important bill through the legislature. Other guests include Wisconsin Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and Professor Herma Hill Kay, Dean Emerita of the University of California at Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall).
The focus of the Conference is on the Wisconsin experience with economic reforms to the divorce law. Sessions include one on the enactment of the divorce reform legislation and what it hoped to accomplish. Other sessions will look at current law. One will examine the current status of spousal support in Wisconsin, focusing on (1) when it is available ? the support and fairness objectives; (2) how much should it be ? the suggestion by the Supreme Court of a 50/50 starting point; and (3) how long should it last ? the issue of indefinite and extendable support versus time limited payments. Another session will consider how the changes made in property division have developed, with particular emphasis on the presumption of a 50/50 division.
Finally, additional sessions will look to the future and where the law might go: (1) Should we eliminate the difference between divisible property and marital property; and (2) Should we adopt a formula for spousal support ? for example, that proposed by the ALI.
For more information, contact Pam Hollenhorst, Assistant Director of the Institute for Legal Studies, at 608-265-2804.
Submitted by on October 24, 2000
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