Most Family Court hearings are before Commissioner Burns, who hears cases on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the Green County Justice Center. The general schedule is as follows:
Commissioner Burns holds hearings in the Hearing Room on the main floor of the Green County Justice Center. If you have received permission to appear by telephone, you may call 608-328-9406 to appear.
Before you can get any hearing scheduled, the Summons and Petition must be filed with the Clerk of Court. If that is already done, the person who wants the hearing must file a motion or order to show cause that tells the court and the other party what is requested and the facts that support what is requested.
Forms with instructions can be downloaded from links on our Forms and Form Sources Page. Please make sure you read all of the instructions, complete all portions of the document, and that you print clearly. Hearings on motions and orders to show cause are generally scheduled for 30 minutes.
Most pre-judgment, and many post-judgment hearings, are not evidentiary. That means that witnesses are usually not called to testify. Instead, the Commissioner listens to the arguments of the parties or attorneys, supported by offers of proof, and makes a decision without hearing testimony.
In some cases, testimony of parties or witnesses is necessary for the Commissioner to understand the facts and make a decision. Testimony of the parties may be taken at any hearing. If you want a hearing with witnesses, you should be sure to ask for that when you schedule send your documents to the Court Commissioner's Office to get a hearing date. If witnesses are to be called, the hearing may be set for 60 minutes rather than 30.
If your witnesses are necessary, you should make arrangements to have them at the hearing. If someone important cannot come because of work or other obligations, the Commissioner may allow them to testify by telephone. If you want someone to testify by telephone, you must call the Family Court to get advance permission. Don't wait until the day before the hearing!
In hearings where witnesses testify, the Commissioner may limit each party to a limited time or limited number of witnesses.
Before you can get a date and time for a stipulated final hearing, each party must file an updated financial statement, a marital settlement agreement covering all issues, and a statistical data sheet. When neither party is represented by an attorney, proposed Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Judgment of Divorce must also be filed with the Court Commissioner before the final stipulated hearing will be scheduled in front of a Circuit Court Judge.