You just lost your divorce case. Maybe it involved child custody. Perhaps it was alimony. Was the property distribution just plain wrong? Did you feel punished? Is it your former spouse who is appealing?
Few attorneys routinely appear before Maryland’s appellate courts on family law issues. Most family law attorneys never handle an appeal. Then there are those of us who have seen more than a hundred family law appellate cases.
Appellate judges tend to focus on legal issues, although the Court of Appeals will often involve itself in issues affecting public policy.
Choosing an appellate attorney to review your case must be done swiftly, as certain appellate rights in family law cases may be as brief as 10 days after the case ended. That is true for the following types of appeals:
• Filing Exceptions to the Recommendations of a Family Law Magistrate
• Filing a Motion to Alter or Reconsider an Order
• Filing an In Banc Appeal (an appeal from one circuit court judge to three other circuit court judges)
The more traditional appeal from a circuit court judgment to the Court of Special Appeals must occur within 30 days after the judgment is entered.
But wait. It gets even trickier. At the same time the Court of Special Appeals is reviewing your case, you can ask the Court of Appeals to take it away from them and hear it themselves through a process call a Petition for a Writ of Certiorari.
Complicated enough for you yet?
Now you understand why you must find a qualified family law attorney with a great deal of experience handling family law appeals. If your case has concluded, time is of the essence.
Milstein Siegel can help. Give us a call at (410) 792-2300 or fill out the form to get started.
