What to Expect During a Family Law Appeal

Like the name suggests, family law affects divorce, child custody arrangements, adoption, and other similar issues that start in the home. Our skilled attorney is here to help and make sure you understand all of your rights during the legal process.

If you feel that a lower court’s decision was based on inadequate findings or a failure to follow the law, a family law attorney can help you appeal an unfair decision. Sean Cox Law is a great choice to make sure that you get through your case with the best result possible.

WHAT HAPPENS DURING A FAMILY LAW APPEAL?

Types Of Family Law Include:

Getting Started

Before getting started, you should know that it can take a year or more for an appeal. The appeal process tends to take a lot of time because our family attorney needs to secure transcripts, analyze what happened in the lower court’s proceedings, research similar cases, and complete other tasks to prepare your case.

Your case may be delayed if your family attorney has difficulty getting the transcripts or misses filing deadlines. Fortunately, our family law attorney has plenty of experience helping clients through the appeal process.

Filing Deadlines

Each state has their own deadlines for filing a Notice of Appeal, which are typically 30 to 60 days from when you received the original order. Our family lawyers Grand Rapids Mi can help you meet deadlines so you don’t miss your chance to appeal a decision made by a lower court.

The best thing you can do for your case is hire a family court attorney as soon as possible. We can evaluate your case to determine whether an appeal is the best decision. Since the appeal process typically takes a year or two, we may recommend other ways you can seek justice. Our attorney has years of experience winning cases for clients.

Accelerated Schedule For Issues Involving Children

The appeal process can easily take a year or more. Fortunately, family court appeals are screened all the time for those cases that need to be placed on the accelerated schedule. These cases typically involve child abuse, custody, legal guardianship, adoption, termination of parental rights, and other issues involving the welfare of a child. Your case may be expedited if you can prove that delays would only harm your child.

Review Of Trial Record

What an appeal does is request that a higher court review the decision made by a lower court. For this reason, you won’t be able to submit new evidence. Instead, the higher court will look over the trial record to determine whether the judge used the proper law and ruled as any reasonable judge would have under the circumstances.

The court may rule in your favor if you can show there were errors in law and fact. Otherwise, the Court of Appeals won’t change the ruling–even if they don’t agree with it. Our child custody lawyer can help you achieve the best outcome for your children’s welfare.

Ruling From The Court Of Appeals

If You Go Forward With An Appeal, The Higher Court Can Rule One Of Three Ways:

• Affirm lower court’s decision
• Reverse lower court’s decision
• Remand matter for retrial.

Our family law attorney, Grand Rapids Mi can vigorously fight for your rights and help you achieve the best outcome for your case. To request your free legal consultation, call the Law Offices of Sean Patrick Cox in Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo.