Wis. Stat. » CHAPTER 55 — PROTECTIVE SERVICE SYSTEM
Wisconsin Statutes

Wis. Stat. § 55.001 (2026)

Declaration of policy

✓ current as of July 2026
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55.00155.001 Declaration of policy. The legislature recognizes that many citizens of the state, because of serious and persistent mental illness, degenerative brain disorder, developmental disabilities, or other like incapacities, are in need of protective services or protective placement. Except as provided in s. 49.45 (30m) (a), the protective services or protective placement should, to the maximum degree of feasibility under programs, services and resources that the county board of supervisors or the Milwaukee County mental health board, as applicable, is reasonably able to provide within the limits of available state and federal funds and of county funds required to be appropriated to match state funds, allow the individual the same rights as other citizens, and at the same time protect the individual from financial exploitation, abuse, neglect, and self-neglect. This chapter is designed to establish those protective services and protective placements, to assure their availability to all individuals when in need of them, and to place the least possible restriction on personal liberty and exercise of constitutional rights consistent with due process and protection from abuse, financial exploitation, neglect, and self-neglect.
55.001 HistoryHistory: 1973 c. 284; 1979 c. 221; 1995 a. 92; 2003 a. 33; 2005 a. 264, 388; 2009 a. 180; 2013 a. 203.
55.001 AnnotationNeither a district attorney nor a corporation counsel has a duty to petition for protective placement, determination of incompetency, or otherwise intervene when an apparently competent elderly person with a life threatening illness chooses to remain at home under a doctor’s and family care rather than seeking a higher level of care that might extend the person’s life. 74 Atty. Gen. 188.
55.001 AnnotationLandmark Reforms Signed Into Law: Guardianship and Adult Protective Services. Abramson & Raymond. Wis. Law. Aug. 2006.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 27 cases (9 in the last 5 years), 1979–2026 · leading case: Fond du Lac Cnty. v. Helen E. F., 2012 WI 50 (Wis. 2012).
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Fond du Lac Cnty. v. Helen E. F., 2012 WI 50 (Wis. 2012). · cites it 5× “" Wis. Stat. § 55.001 ; see also § 51.001(2) (voicing concern for the personal liberties of those committed under ch.”
Dunn Cnty. v. JUDY K., 2002 WI 87 (Wis. 2002). · cites it 12× “Second, the Act borrowed the exact limiting language cited by this court from Chapter 51 and placed it in three different sections of Chapter 55: Wis. Stat. §§ 55.001 , 55.06(9)(a), and 55.”
Cnty. of Dunn v. Goldie H., 2001 WI 102 (Wis. 2001). · cites it 8× “The purpose of Wisconsin's protective service system, Chapter 55, is established in Wis. Stat. § 55.001 : *548 The legislature recognizes that many citizens of the state, because of the infirmities of aging, chronic mental illness, mental retardation, other developmental…”
Jackson Cnty. Dep't of Health & Human Servs. v. Susan H., 2010 WI App 82 (Wis. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 5× “" Wis. Stat. § 55.001 . 4 *256 ¶ 13. The standard dictionary definition of "care" applicable in this context is "the process of providing for the needs of someone.”
Walworth Cnty. v. THERESE B., 2003 WI App 223 (Wis. Ct. App. 2003). · cites it 2× “" Wis. Stat. § 55.001 . It is impossible to determine the government's interest in additional fiscal or administrative burdens that might be entailed by requiring the testimony of a professional who has examined the proposed ward.”
State Ex Rel. Watts v. Combined Cmty. Servs. Bd. of Milwaukee Cnty., 362 N.W.2d 104 (Wis. 1985). · cites it 2× “The legislature recognizes that many citizens of the state, because of the infirmities of aging, chronic mental illness, mental retardation, other developmental disabilities or like in-capacities incurred at any age, are in need of protective services.”
In Matter of Guardianship of Agnes T., 507 N.W.2d 373 (Wis. Ct. App. 1993). · cites it 6× “[4] See sec. 55.001, Stats., Chapter 55 also provides for protective placement, which is defined as "placement of a ward for the primary purpose of providing care and custody.”
In Re Commitment of Luttrell, 2008 WI App 93 (Wis. Ct. App. 2008). · cites it 5× “55, Wisconsin's protective-placement-system chapter for persons who are unable to properly care for themselves, see Wis. Stat. § 55.001 . 5 Accordingly, competency is not a prerequisite to either civil mental-commitment or civil protective-placement proceedings.”
LaBeree v. Labor & Indus. Review Comm'n, 2010 WI App 148 (Wis. Ct. App. 2010). · cites it 2× “" Wis. Stat. § 55.001 . ¶ 21. Wisconsin Stat.”
In Matter of Guardianship & Prot. Placement of Shaw, 275 N.W.2d 503 (Wis. Ct. App. 1979). “Sec. 55.001, Stats., See generally, Shelton v.”
State Ex Rel. Roberta A. S. v. Waukesha Cnty. Human Servs. Dep't, 491 N.W.2d 114 (Wis. Ct. App. 1992). · cites it 2× “" Section 55.001, Stats. *275 We must interpret all provisions in ch.”
D.E.R. v. La Crosse Cnty., 455 N.W.2d 239 (Wis. 1990). · cites it 2× “Section 55.001, the chapter's "Declaration of Policy" reads as follows: The legislature recognizes that many citizens of the state, because of the infirmities of aging, chronic mental illness, mental retardation, other developmental disabilities or like incapacities incurred at…”
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