As of April 1, 2018, Wisconsin no longer offers new applicant Domestic Partnerships.

Partners who wish to terminate their Wisconsin domestic partnership must file a notice of termination of the domestic partnership in the same County Clerk office that issued the declaration of domestic partnership. This is true even if the partners no longer reside in that county.

Both parties may sign the notice of termination and submit it to the County Clerk. If only one party signs the notice of termination, that partner needs to complete an affidavit that affirms that he or she either served the other partner with a summons or that he or she published an official public notice in the area where the partner was last known to be living.

Upon receipt of the completed notice of termination (and affidavit, if required), and the appropriate fee, the County Clerk issues an “Original Certificate of Termination of Domestic Partnership” to the party filing the notice. Although there is no 5-day waiting period for the County Clerk to issue the certificate of termination, the County Clerk may set a reasonable time frame for issuing the certificate of termination after the notification is filed.

The domestic partner who files the notice of termination is responsible for completing the certificate of termination and filing it with the Register of Deeds office in the same county that issued the certificate of termination.