DEFINE: Appeals

Appeals in Divorce and Family Law Matters

If one party in a divorce or family law proceeding is not satisfied with a judge’s ruling, that person has the right to appeal that ruling to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. An appeal must be filed within sixty days. If the ruling was following a divorce trial, the court would have issued a “Judgment and Decree.” Following any judgments, the appeal must be brought within 60 days of the date of entry of the judgment. If the court issued a basic order (which must be a “final” order to be appealable), the 60 days to appeal begins to run after one of the parties serves the other party with a notice of filing of that order. If neither party serves the other with a notice of filing, the 60-day period to appeal never starts. These orders that may be appealed, are most common in post-decree matters.

If you are unhappy with a court order or judgment following a trial or evidentiary hearing, it is important to bring a motion for amended findings or new trial (within the specific time-frames for doing so) after you receive your order or judgment, and before you appeal it to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. If you do not bring a motion for amended findings or new trial, it will limit the “scope of review” that the Court of Appeals will apply to your case.

The Appellate Court Process

To appeal the case, the appealing party must pay requisite filing fees and initiate the appeal by serving and filing a “notice of appeal” within the required 60-day time-period. For divorce and family law matters, both parties are usually required to participate in appellate mediation. If the parties cannot resolve their issues in mediation, the case will proceed forward in appellate court. In such a case, the appealing party, will also be required to request and purchase a copy of the court transcript of the trial that is the product of the appeal. If it was a multi-day trial, the cost of these transcripts can range in the thousands of dollars.

The Court of Appeals will issue a scheduling order, and both parties will be required to serve and file formal written “briefs” arguing their side of the case. In the briefs, the parties must cite specifically to the court record, such as the transcript, exhibits and the resulting court order. After the briefs have all been submitted, the Court of Appeals will schedule oral arguments, where both parties must argue the case before a panel of three appellate justices (which is normally, but not always in St. Paul). The Court of Appeals will give a decision (opinion) to affirm the trial court’s order, reverse the trial court’s order or remand for further findings, or some combination of these options. If the Court of Appeals does reverse and/or remand the matter, it will go back to the trial court judge who issued the initial judgment or order. The trial court judge must then comply with the instructions from the Court of Appeals.

You Should Have an Attorney Represent you for an Appeal

The appellate court process is very formal in nature and includes specific deadlines and requirements for filing and preparing written briefs and other submissions. If these formal rules are not followed, the court of appeals will reject your brief or other submissions. It is highly recommended that you hire an attorney if you are thinking about appealing an order or if you find yourself needing to respond to someone else who appealed an order. The legal team at Blahnik, Prchal & Stoll regularly handle divorce and family law appeals.