Can I Appeal the Final Judgment in My Divorce Case?

Your divorce is finally over, but the outcome isn’t what you wanted. If you are not satisfied with the final judgment in a divorce case, you may have a brief window to be able to appeal the ruling. However, not every decision of the judge is appealable. First, the judgment must be final. The law tends to favor the finality of judgments. Certain issues, such as spousal support, child custody, or property allocation are appealable if the trial judge abused their discretion. A trial judge abuses their discretion when they fail to adequately consider the law and facts relating to a case. The resulting decision can be argued to be an arbitrary or unreasonable departure from the law. Simply not liking the outcome of your case is not a good enough reason to appeal. An appellate lawyer is invaluable in helping navigate the complex issues of whether a judgment is final and whether a case can be appealed.

If you can appeal your case, you must comply with numerous court deadlines and other administrative procedures. First, you must file a timely notice of appeal which outlines the specific things you are appealing within 30 days of the entry of judgment. Generally, if you miss the deadline to file a notice of appeal, you are not allowed to file it late. Sometimes, you may request permission to file the appeal late, but you must have a really good reason for not filing in time. Needing more time to hire a lawyer or decide if you want to appeal are not good enough reasons. It is also does not matter if you are aware of the deadline. The notice of appeal should be timely, otherwise you may lose your right to appeal. Another technical concern is your notice of appeal must correctly state what you are appealing.  This means that an error on the notice of appeal could undermine your chances of success on appeal and maybe even result in your appeal being dismissed.

After you file a notice of appeal, you must order the relevant trial court documents, called the record, from the trial court and make sure it is provided to the court of appeal in a specified period of time. Next, you must prepare a detailed brief, which is supported by the record, and explain exactly why you believe that the trial court’s judgment was wrong and should be overturned. Simply arguing that the decision was unfair will not win your appeal. In the brief, you need to convince the appellate court that the lower court made an error in their decision-making process. This argument involves a deep understanding of the law, complex legal research and an understanding of Texas Rules of Civil Procedure. If your brief doesn’t explain the issues well enough, the other side may ask the court to dismiss your appeal before it even files a response. If your appeal survives the briefing stage, sometimes, the court of appeal will set a hearing where you will have a short amount of time to present your case to the court. This is a very formal hearing before a panel of judges. Many times, however, cases are decided on their briefs, which means that the court of appeal does not choose to hear oral argument.

If you have recently received a final judgment in your divorce and you think the trial court made an error, or if you don’t understand how the judge came to their decision, call our offices immediately so we can assess your case. Having your case reviewed by an experienced appellate lawyer quickly is important, since you only have a short time to file an appeal. Call our offices for a consultation today.