Family court decisions can have a major impact on a person’s life. Matters of paternity, custody, support, visitation, and more are often handled in family courts, and these outcomes can continue to resonate in the lives of parents and children for years to come. If you feel that a family court judgment has been unfair or inappropriate, you have the right to appeal the ruling to a higher court.
An Overview
It is important to remember that an appeal is not a new trial. When you appeal a lower court decision, you are essentially asking the appeals court to review the lower court proceedings to ensure that the process was carried out properly and fairly. New evidence is typically inadmissible, and an appeal is not an opportunity to “retry the case.” Appeals hearings center solely on reviewing a prior decision to ensure that procedure was followed and justice was served.
In an appeal, attorneys for both sides will prepare and present detailed briefs to the appeals court, which contains a panel of judges, rather than the single judge typically found in trial courts. The attorneys’ briefs will outline the reasons why they believe their respective clients are correct. These briefs will contain summaries of the case, references to statutory and case law, and a comprehensive argument outlining the clients’ positions. The court will then review the briefs, and will also hear arguments from attorneys on both sides, during which the judges will dig deeper into the issues by asking the attorneys specific questions relating to the briefs they presented. Once the briefs have been reviewed and oral arguments presented, the court will issue a decision.
The Review
As mentioned above, appeals should not be considered new trials. Rather, an appeals court, in reviewing your case, will be looking at whether the lower court followed proper procedure, applied the law correctly, and arrived at a just result. To do this, the higher court will typically rely on the attorneys’ briefs, as well as the “record,” which is a written version of what happened at the trial court stage.
Common items that are appealed after a family court ruling include child custody, spousal maintenance, and child support. Keep in mind that settlement agreements between the parties usually cannot be appealed. This means that if you and the other party finalized an out-of-court agreement on your divorce or child custody matter, you generally will not be permitted to appeal that agreement.
After the attorneys have made their arguments, the court will review the case and come to a decision. If the appeals court finds that the trial or the ruling in a family court was unjust, it may send the case back to the trial judge, with instructions to correct certain errors. Bear in mind, though, that getting an appeals court to overturn a family court’s ruling is a relatively rare occurrence.
Conclusion
Appealing a family court ruling in your divorce or child custody case is an option if you are not satisfied with the result you’ve obtained. While getting a family court decision overturned by an appeals court is a relatively rare occurrence, an appeal could be successful if it is found that there were substantive errors at the trial court stage, or that justice was not adequately served. Appealing a family court decision can be a complex enterprise; therefore, if you are considering an appeal, you should obtain the services of a competent, experienced appeals attorney to assist you in the process.
NOTE
All legal references are made with respect to Indiana law. Please check the laws of your local jurisdiction if you live in another state.
The articles in this blog are for informational purposes only. No attorney-client relationship is established through the publication of these articles.
