When the family court rules against you in a divorce case or other legal proceeding, you may wonder about your chances of winning an appeal in family court. The likelihood of a successful appeal will depend on various factors. Winning an appeal will require you to convince an appeals court that the family court made a procedural or legal error or abused its discretion during the trial proceedings and that error or abuse of discretion affected the case’s outcome to your detriment. You must also comply with Texas’s appellate rules and procedures, including filing a timely notice of appeal and a proper appellate brief before the appeals court will consider your appeal.
Working with an experienced family court appeals attorney after an adverse ruling in the family court can give you the best chance of success when appealing the family court’s decision. An attorney with extensive knowledge of Texas family law and court rules can identify viable claims you can present to the appeals court and ensure you comply with appellate procedures.
What Can I Appeal After a Family Court Decision?
In the civil court system, you typically may appeal a family court’s decision after the court enters a final order, judgment, or decree. The law typically does not allow a party to appeal a non-final order (also called an interlocutory order) except for specific interlocutory orders that they may appeal as of right or when the order affects a party’s substantive rights and delaying appellate review until after a final order or judgment may result in the permanent loss of those rights. Examples of orders, decrees, and judgments that you might appeal include:
- Divorce decrees
- Final child custody orders
- Final child support orders
- Final property division orders
- Final spousal support and alimony orders
- Final protection and no contact orders
- Judgments of contempt of a protection order or no contact order
In most cases, you must “preserve” an issue for an appeal by filing a motion or objection during the family court proceedings to challenge a judge’s decision. A motion or objection allows the family court to correct an error, avoiding the need for an appeal. However, when the family court overrules your motion or objection, you may challenge that ruling and the family court’s underlying decision on appeal.
What Are Some Reasons You Might Wish to File an Appeal?
An appeal does not involve retrying your case in front of another court. Furthermore, you need more than a simple disagreement with the family court’s initial decision to file an appeal. An appeals court will uphold the family court’s judgment when sufficient evidence supports the judgment; appeals courts also typically defer to a family court’s evaluation of witnesses’ credibility. Instead, an appeal requires you to identify procedural or legal errors or abuses of discretion made by the family court during your divorce, child custody, or other proceedings. A family court judge may abuse their discretion by acting arbitrarily or unreasonably. Other procedural or legal errors that may give rise to an appeal of a family court decision include:
- The family court admitted irrelevant or prejudicial evidence or evidence not admissible under the Texas Rules of Evidence
- The family court denied you due process, such as by arbitrarily excluding your evidence or witnesses or not affording you adequate time to prepare or present your case
- The family court misstated the law or misapplied the case facts to the law
- The family court relied on insufficient evidence to make its determination or considered evidence not in the record
- The family court made contradicting credibility determinations or factual findings
- The family court demonstrated bias or prejudice towards a party or decided the case before hearing evidence and arguments
Deadlines to Appeal a Family Court Decision
Under Texas’s Rules of Appellate Procedure, you typically have 30 days after the family court judge signs a judgment or final order to appeal. However, the rules extend this deadline to 90 days if any party files a timely motion for a new trial, a motion to modify the judgment, a motion to reinstate, or a request for findings of fact or conclusions of law as required by the Rules of Civil Procedure.
For an accelerated appeal, an appellant must file their notice of appeal within 20 days of the judge signing the judgment or order; for a restricted appeal, the appellant has six months to file their notice of appeal. Finally, when any party timely appeals a family court judge’s judgment or order, the opposing party may file a notice of appeal within the applicable appeal period or 14 days after the first filed notice of appeal, whichever expires later.
What to Expect During an Appeal
In Texas’s civil appellate process, you typically must file a notice of appeal within 30 days of the family court’s final decision. In the notice of appeal, you must identify the issues or errors you want the appeals court to address. Once the family court forwards the record of the proceedings to the appeals court, you typically have 30 days to submit an appellate brief to explain how the family court’s decision failed to comply with the law or lacked a sufficient evidentiary basis. The appellate brief must cite relevant statutes and case law that support its arguments.
In most cases, you cannot introduce new evidence in an appeal; the appeals court will rely on the evidence presented to the family court. Either party can request a hearing to present oral arguments to the appeals court. However, the appeals court may decline a request for oral arguments if it believes it can resolve the appeal based on the record and the parties’ appellate briefs.
When the appeals court determines that the family court erred, it will reverse or vacate its decision. The appeals court may remand (return) the case to the family court to hold a new trial or hearing; in some cases, the appeals court may remand the case with instructions for the family court to enter a specific judgment.
Contact an Experienced Family Law Attorney Today
When a family court made procedural or legal errors in your case, you may have the right to appeal the court’s decision to seek relief from the prejudice those errors caused you. Let the experienced Austin family law attorneys at Smith & Bledsoe Family Law help you understand your legal options in an appeal. Contact our law firm today through (512) 277-3166 or fill out our online form for a free case evaluation to determine whether you may have a viable appeal of a family court’s adverse decision or judgment. Check out the legal team and our success stories to gain the confidence to trust us with your case.
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