Court Jurisdiction and Venue for Adoption Petitions - Wisconsin

Jurisdiction

Citation: Ann. Stat. §§ 48.83; 48.028(3)(b)

Upon the filing of a petition for adoption or for the adoptive placement of a child, the court of the county in which the proposed adoptive parent or child resides, or the court of the county in which a petition for termination of parental rights to the child was filed or granted, has jurisdiction over the child until the petition is withdrawn, denied, or granted.

If the adoption is denied, jurisdiction over the child shall immediately revert to the court that appointed the guardian, unless the appointing court is a court of another State or foreign jurisdiction, in which case the court of the county where the child is located shall have jurisdiction.

An Indian Tribe shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any Indian child custody proceeding involving an Indian child who resides or is domiciled within the reservation of the Tribe, except when that jurisdiction is otherwise vested in the State by Federal law. If an Indian child is a ward of a Tribal court, the Indian Tribe shall retain exclusive jurisdiction regardless of the residence or domicile of the child.

Venue

Citation: Ann. Stat. § 48.83

Venue in a proceeding for adoption or adoptive placement of a child shall be in the county in which the proposed adoptive parent or child resides at the time the petition is filed or in the county where a petition for termination of parental rights to the child was filed or granted. The court may transfer the case to a court in the county in which the proposed adoptive parents reside.