Wisconsin: legal help you can afford
There is no public defender for a divorce in Wisconsin, or anywhere else — the right to a free lawyer is a criminal-case right, and a divorce is a civil case. What exists instead is on this page, with the link to each one. Start with the fee waiver and the question of whether your spouse can be made to pay your legal fees, because those two are the ones people never think to ask about.
See a different stateWisconsin
The five things to try, in this order
Ordered by how much they are worth relative to how hard they are, not alphabetically.
- Ask about the filing fee waiver. In Wisconsin it is called Petition for Waiver of Fees and Costs. Form CV-410A. Filer declares that, because of poverty, they are unable to pay filing and service fees, including the electronic filing fee.
- Ask whether your spouse can be ordered to pay your lawyer. After considering the financial resources of both parties, the court may order either party to pay a reasonable amount for the cost of the other party’s maintaining or defending the action, including attorney fees, both before and after the action (preaction and postaction fees). (Wis. Stat. sec. 767.241 (Award of attorney fees and other fees and costs))
- Check the statewide legal-aid portal. Wisconsin Court System Self-Help Law Center lists the program that covers your county and what it takes.
- Use the court self-help service. Wisconsin Court System Self-Help Law Center. Forms, information on Wisconsin law and court procedure, including a Divorce & family section.
- Try the bar referral service. State Bar of Wisconsin Lawyer Referral & Information Service (LRS), with a Modest Means program. No fee for the referral itself; referred attorneys agree to charge no more than $20 for an initial 30-minute consultation. Phone (800) 362-9082 or (608) 257-4666. A separate ‘Modest Means’ program is also listed by the State Bar.
Legal aid in Wisconsin
Legal aid organizations are funded to serve people under an income threshold, and family cases are one of the areas they most often take. Being turned down by one is not the end of it — the threshold, the caseload and the priorities differ by program and by month.
| Organization | Who it covers | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Legal Action of Wisconsin | statewide (largest provider; other regional providers include Judicare Legal Aid for northern counties) | Free civil legal services for low-income Wisconsinites. Apply via online intake form or call (855) 947-2529; applying/calling does not guarantee services. |
Worth knowing about Wisconsin
- Did not confirm a specific Wisconsin law-school family-law/divorce clinic (UW Madison or Marquette) within the research budget; left null rather than guess.
Limited scope representation. You hire a lawyer for one piece — one hearing, one document, a review of an agreement before you sign it — and do the rest yourself. It costs a fraction of full representation and it puts a lawyer in the two or three moments that actually change the outcome. How it works, and where it is permitted.
What we could not confirm for this state
Listed rather than filled in. Every one of these is something we went looking for and could not stand behind.
- a law school family law clinic we could confirm is currently running
If you know one of these and we have it wrong or missing, tell us and we will check it and credit the correction.
Compiled 31 August 2026 from each organization’s own site, the state courts and the state bar. Legal aid funding and eligibility change, sometimes mid-year. Always check the link before relying on anything here. Corrections welcome.
Keep reading
- The national picture — fee waivers, unbundling, fee awards
- The Wisconsin divorce kit — forms, fees and deadlines
- Doing it without a lawyer
- Questions to ask a lawyer
- What divorce costs
- What two households cost