Lacey v. Lacey

In objecting to the division of property in this divorce case, the husband cites the 1914 case in which this court suggested: “. . . a clear third of the whole is a liberal allowance to the wife, ...”

This statement has been repeated so often in subsequent decisions that one well-respected law text concludes that Wisconsin, alone among all states, has adopted one third of the marital estate to the wife as the standard to start from, to be increased or decreased only by special circumstances.

However, the varying percentages for distribution reached or upheld in these same subsequent decisions…