My ex-wife has indicated that she would like to voluntarily cease
receiving spousal support. What is the cheapest way to accomplish this
(in other words, can we avoid more legal fees, etc)?

The divorce has been active for a little over 6 years.

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Request for Question Clarification by gregaw-ga on 17 Aug 2006 05:41 PDT

what state was the divorce / spousal support ruling in?

Dear gmcclel-ga;

Thank you for allowing me to answer your interesting question. As you
will note from our disclaimer we cannot offer legal advice in this
forum. What we can do however is point out published information
concerning the subject of your question. Obviously, for best results
you should contact an attorney, but in the meantime I will do what I
can to help you find a do-it-yourself solution:

What you are asking about is pretty straightforward and uncomplicated.
In fact, the state of Wisconsin intentionally makes it easy in an
effort to help streamline the courts.

Here is a stipulation packet that contains the motion for a
modification of support (alimony, child support, etc). A stipulation
means that both parties agree to the modification (in this case a
termination) and that a protracted hearing is technically unnecessary.

Addition information can be found at http://www.wicourts.gov

Follow the instructions to the letter. 

Fill out the documents and file them with appropriate Clerk of the
Court that has jurisdiction over your divorce or alimony order. Attend
your courts dates (if you are required to do so) and make sure that
BOTH of you appear (if you are required to do so). The hearing (if
any) should be brief and frankly, the court will either enter the
order or deny it. Typically when both parties agree to such a
modification the request is awarded.

FORM FA-604
Stipulation and Order to Amend Judgment for Support/Maintenance/Custody/Placement
http://www.wicourts.gov/forms/FA-604.DOC
(Word Doc version)
http://www.wicourts.gov/forms/FA-604.PDF
(PDF version)
Purpose/Form summary
http://www.wicourts.gov/forms/FA-604S.PDF

For assistance in self-representation (pro se) you might examine this
help site provided by the state of Wisconsin.

SELF-REPRESENTATION SELF-HELP FAMILY WEB SITE
http://www.wicourts.gov/services/public/prose.htm

As for your question about circumventing filing fees, this simply
isn?t possible. Filing fees are as much a part of filing a motion with
the court as the motion itself. This method will help you reduce the
costs associated with such a motion by relieving you of attorney and
service fees, but the filing fee will still have to be paid. Be sure
to make your filing fee payable to the appropriate court. Contact the
clerk of the court where you intend to file the motion and they will
give you the appropriate addresses and amount of the filing fee(s).
While this method will not allow you to come away from the process
freely as you probably hoped it might, it IS the simple,
do-it-yourself solution and it will result in much lesser financial
obligation on your part in the long run than if you relied on an
attorney and process server to do the work for you.

I hope you find that my answer exceeds your expectations. If you have
any questions about my research please post a clarification request
prior to rating the answer. Otherwise I welcome your rating and your
final comments and I look forward to working with you again in the
near future. Thank you for bringing your question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga ? Google Answers Researcher



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above


SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

Wisconsin

Spousal maintenance

Modification

Termination

Stipulation

Forms

Thank you! Very complete and well worth the cost.

(It would be nice if Google Answers would notify folks via EMail of
answers to their questions!)