I ran across this article recently, http://divorce.com/mandatory-sex/, and found the contrast between Wisconsin divorce law and French law amusing.  There is no possible way this ruling could ever happen in a Wisconsin divorce.  First, Wisconsin follows the “no fault” divorce rule.  But perhaps most interesting to me was how one would place a value on sex (or lack of) over a period of time.  The article doesn’t state how the judge or the wife arrived at this value.  The article does provide us enough information for an estimate based on some simple math.   These people were married 21 years.  Assuming the quoted average of 58 days per year, we get 1,218 apparently missed opportunities.   An award of $14,000 values each event at about $11.   About the price of a mixed drink at a decent bar, or a fast food dinner.   Perhaps in this light, $14,000 might seem rather low compensation.

When there is a question of valuation of an asset in a Wisconsin divorce, a spouse usually hires an expert witness (a real estate appraiser, for example) to state his/her opinion of the value.  I wonder how someone would present as an expert witness qualified to render an opinion on the value of this “asset.”  Division of property at divorce in Wisconsin is contentious enough without introducing this type of issue.