How to Fill Out and File Wisconsin Form FA-4170V: Motion to Modify Placement

Wisconsin Form FA-4170V is the Motion to Change that you file in circuit court to modify an existing order for legal custody, physical placement, child support, maintenance, or arrears. You complete the four-page form, file it with the Clerk of Court in the county that issued your original order, pay a $50 filing fee, and arrange for the other parent to be served before the hearing the clerk assigns.¹ The explanation you write on page 2 is what decides the outcome, so the legal standard should shape the form before the form shapes your filing.

What You Have to Prove

Wisconsin Statute 767.451 sets the threshold for changing a placement or custody order, and the threshold depends on how long ago the last order was entered.

Within Two Years of the Last Order

For the first two years after a final judgment establishing custody or placement, a court generally will not modify the order. To get past that restriction, you must show by substantial evidence that the current arrangement is physically or emotionally harmful to the child’s best interest.² Courts treat this window as close to inviolable unless the child is in real danger.

After Two Years

Once two years have passed, you have to show two things: a substantial change of circumstances since the last order, and that the change you propose is in the child’s best interest.² The law presumes that continuing the current arrangement serves the child best, so the burden sits with the parent asking for the change.

A change in either parent’s income or marital status, by itself, does not meet the standard.² You need something that directly affects the child’s daily life: a parent relocating, a shift in the child’s school or medical needs, or a parent failing to exercise their scheduled placement.

When Parents Already Share Equal Placement

If both parents currently share substantially equal placement and that schedule has become impractical to continue, the court can modify the order as long as the change is in the child’s best interest. This path does not require proof of a substantial change of circumstances; impracticability plus best interest is enough.²

Filling Out Form FA-4170V

You can download the current version from the Wisconsin Court System’s circuit court forms library at wicourts.gov.³ The form runs four pages and covers legal custody, physical placement, child support, maintenance, and arrears in one document. You check off which items you want changed at the top.

Page 1: Case Information and Notice of Motion

Enter the county where your family law case is on file and the original case number. Fill in your full name, mailing address, and phone number as Party A, and the other parent’s information as Party B. The form asks whether the Child Support Agency is a party; check yes if the agency has been involved in collecting or enforcing support.⁴ The bottom of page 1 is the Notice of Motion. You fill in the other parent’s name there, but leave the hearing date and time blank; the clerk assigns them after you file.

Page 2: The Reason for Your Motion

This is the page that decides whether your motion succeeds. Enter the dates of the orders you want changed, then check every box that fits your situation. The form provides common scenarios: the child living with the other parent, a parent relocating, an employment or shift change, an income change, non-exercise of ordered placement, safety concerns about the other parent, a change in health insurance cost or availability, and an “other” field for anything that does not fit.⁴

Below the checkboxes is an open explanation field. This is where you connect the checked boxes to the child’s daily life. Saying “my work schedule changed” will not carry a motion. Explain how the change makes the current schedule unworkable, what you propose instead, and how the new arrangement serves the child. Be specific about days, times, and effects on the child.

Page 3: What You Are Asking For

Page 3 is where you set out the new arrangement. For legal custody, check whether you want joint custody, sole custody with a specific parent, or something else. For physical placement, write out the exact days and times you propose for each parent, including holiday, summer, and school-year schedules if they differ.⁴ The form also asks whether you want either parent’s placement supervised. If you are requesting child support changes at the same time, that section appears on this page as well.

Page 4: Signature

The form ends with a signature block for your signature, printed name, mailing address, email, phone number, and date. An attorney adds their State Bar number. The form does not require notarization.⁴

Filing Fee and Fee Waiver

Take the completed form to the Clerk of Court in the county where your case is on file. The filing fee for a motion to revise legal custody or physical placement is $50.¹ If you cannot afford it, file Form CV-410A (Petition for Waiver of Fees and Costs) at the same time, declaring under penalty of perjury that you are unable to pay.⁵ If you and the other parent reach an agreement and file a stipulation instead of a contested motion, no filing fee is charged.

Serving the Other Parent

Once the clerk assigns a hearing date and time, you are responsible for getting the motion to the other parent, and to the Child Support Agency if it is a party. The form itself sets the deadlines: personal service must happen at least five business days before the hearing, and service by mail must be completed at least eight business days before.⁴ Personal service follows the summons rules in Wisconsin Statute 801.11, which typically means a process server or sheriff’s deputy rather than you.

File proof of service with the court after delivery. Without it, the court cannot proceed, and a missed deadline usually means the hearing gets rescheduled.

What Happens After You File

Mediation First

When legal custody or placement is contested, Wisconsin law requires both parties to attend at least one mediation session before a final hearing.⁶ The first session is a screening. If both parties and the mediator agree that continuing makes sense, the court will not hold a trial on placement until mediation concludes or is terminated. At least ten days before the initial session, each parent submits a proposed parenting plan to the county’s family court services director or the assigned mediator.

The court can waive mediation if attendance would cause undue hardship or endanger a party’s health or safety, considering evidence of domestic abuse, child abuse, or serious substance abuse by either party.⁶ If mediation produces an agreement, the mediator helps draft a stipulation the court can sign into an order.

The Hearing

If mediation does not resolve the case, it moves to an initial appearance before a Family Court Commissioner or Circuit Court Judge. The court first evaluates whether you have cleared the legal threshold (substantial evidence of harm within two years, or a substantial change of circumstances after two years). Only then does it weigh your proposed schedule against the child’s best interests.

Guardian ad Litem

In contested cases the court may appoint a Guardian ad Litem, a Wisconsin-licensed attorney who advocates independently for the child’s best interests. The GAL investigates both parents, reviews any mediation agreements, communicates the child’s wishes to the court, and is specifically required to look into whether either parent has engaged in domestic abuse.⁷ GAL fees are typically paid by one or both parents.

Situations the Form Alone Does Not Cover

A few circumstances change what filing FA-4170V will actually accomplish, and are worth knowing about before you file.

If the other parent is on active military duty, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act lets them apply for a stay of at least 90 days by submitting a letter explaining how duty prevents them from appearing, along with a commanding officer’s statement confirming leave is not authorized. Additional stays are possible, and if the court denies one it must appoint counsel for the servicemember.⁸

If the child or the other parent has moved out of Wisconsin since the original order, Wisconsin may no longer have jurisdiction to modify placement under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, adopted as Chapter 822.⁹ Address that question before you file, because filing in the wrong state wastes time and money.

A significant shift in placement time almost always changes the child support calculation, and Wisconsin courts have held that parents cannot agree in advance to make support unmodifiable when placement changes.¹⁰ Because FA-4170V includes a child support section, you can request both changes in a single motion. A new schedule can also shift which parent claims the child as a dependent under the IRS residency test, so address the dependency claim in any stipulation.¹¹

1
Wisconsin Court System. Wisconsin Circuit Court Fee, Forfeiture, Fine and Surcharge Tables
2
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 767.451 – Revision of Legal Custody and Physical Placement Orders
3
Wisconsin Court System. Circuit Court Forms – FA-4170V
4
Wisconsin Court System. FA-4170V Notice of Motion and Motion to Change
5
Wisconsin Court System. Circuit Court Forms – CV-410A
6
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 767.405 – Family Court Services
7
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 767.407 – Guardian Ad Litem for Minor Children
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3932 – Stay of Proceedings When Servicemember Has Notice
9
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code Chapter 822 – Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act
10
Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Code 767.59 – Annotation
11
Internal Revenue Service. Dependents