Urgent! Read this first!

Before anything else, you have to understand that there is a time limit for when you can appeal your divorce decree in Arizona.

Per rules 8 and 9 of the Arizona Rules of Civil Appellate procedure, you only have 30 days from the date your decree was entered to appeal that decree. So, time is of the essence and if you want to appeal, you need to make sure you file a notice of appeal within the time allowed. If you don’t, it won’t matter how good of a case you have (or had) because it will be too late.

If you think you want to appeal, I suggest you call right away and then you can continue reading this article. I can evaluate your situation and help you decide whether to appeal asap.

Appeal Process

First and foremost, you will have to file a notice of appeal. This lets the superior court know that an appeal has been filed and will also open up an appellate case with the Court of Appeals.

Transcript and Record

After the notice of appeal is filed, the superior court will send over the record to the Court of Appeals.

However, if you want a transcription of the trial sent to the Court of Appeals, you will need to arrange for a certified transcription service yourself. This is hugely critical and something that even lawyers will often forget. As I’ll explain in more detail below, if you don’t get a transcript of the trial from which you’re appealing, then you’ll likely lose your appeal before it even begins.

After the notice has been filed, and the record and transcript have been sent to the Court of Appeals, the Court will schedule when the briefs are due.

The Briefs

The appellant, the person filing the appeal, will file an opening brief.

The opening brief needs to contain:

  • A table of contents
  • A table of citations
  • An introduction (optional)
  • A Statement of the Case
  • A Statement of the Facts
  • A Statement of the Issues
  • An Argument section setting forth the basis of the appeal and must include legal citations and references to the record and transcript.
  • A notice regarding attorney fees (if requested)
  • A Conclusion
  • And an Appendix (per rule 13.1)
  • After the opening brief is filed, the other party, the appellee, will file an answering brief, typically scheduled 40 days after the opening brief is filed.

After the answering brief is filed, the appellant will have the opportunity to file a reply brief. The reply brief is strictly confined to making rebuttal points to rebut the answering brief, not raise new issues or arguments.

Rule 14 sets forth requirements for the formatting of the briefs. In summary, the briefs need to use a 14 point font, typically Times New Roman, include a caption, and not exceed 14,000 words (7,000 for the reply brief).

Oral Argument

The Court of Appeals may schedule an oral argument depending on the issues on appeal, as well as if either party files a motion asking for oral argument.

Oral argument is typically scheduled for 1 hour and is held before a 3 judge panel.

After briefs are filed and oral argument held (if any) the Court of Appeals will issue a memorandum decision (or possibly an opinion). The difference is that the memorandum decision is only binding on your particular case. An opinion would be binding on your particular case, as well as establish the law on a particular legal issue for future cases.

The ruling from the Court of Appeals will typically take a few months after everything is filed.

Chances on Appeal

Of course, it would be helpful to know your chances on appeal before committing to filing for appeal.

Standard of Review

First, the main determining factor of your chances on appeal have to deal with the standard of review that the Court of Appeals will use. For many issues, the Court of Appeals will apply the abuse of discretion standard. This basically means that the trial court’s ruling will be affirmed if there is any rational basis for the ruling.

For other issues, the Court of Appeals will apply the de novo standard, which is not deferential to the trial court, but rather a fresh look at the issues, such as how a law or rule was interpreted in its application. An appeal under this type of standard is significantly easier to win comparatively speaking.

Therefore, it is critical to know ahead of time which standard will be applied. This is not to say that you should never appeal an issue where the abuse of discretion standard will be applied (because the trial courts certainly abuse their discretion in cases from time to time), but at least you should know beforehand to decide whether you want to appeal.

What the Record holds

Second, the next determining factor will be based on the record and the transcript from trial. It will be critical to review both of these to determine how strong of an appeal you have. This is a catch 22 because you won’t have either fully ready before it will be time to file for an appeal. This is where a consult will prove helpful. I can discuss your divorce decree, the rulings you want to appeal, and assess what happened and whether you will have a chance on appeal. From there, after the appeal is filed, the record and transcript will be reviewed and further analyzed to determine all beneficial points to cite in the appellate briefs.

Critical Transcript

Third and last, the transcript being obtained and filed with the Court of Appeals is of critical importance. When the transcript is not provided to the Court of Appeals, it is typically an automatic loss because without the transcript the Court of Appeals will assume that adequate evidence existed to support the trial court’s findings. If this happens, then it is almost guaranteed that the trial court’s ruling will be affirmed. It still amazes me to read appellate cases where attorneys (even experienced attorneys) still forget or fail to submit a transcript. The transcript isn’t cheap because you have to pay a court reporter to transcribe the audio of the trial (in most cases, unless there was a court reporter at your trial). However, the cost (typically hundreds, but less than $1000) is a necessity in order to have a chance on appeal.

Cost of Appealing your Divorce Decree in Arizona

Most lawyers will bill by the hour, and appeals are no exception. This means at virtually all firms you are going to pay a retainer fee (most likely $5,000 and up) and will end up paying $10,000 plus when all is said and done since you’ll be paying $300 per hour or so for the entire appeal. Oh, and you’ll still have to pay for the filing fee and transcription fee. This is a hard pill to swallow since you’ll likely have already spent a small fortune on the divorce itself.

My divorce and family law appellate practice is unique because I offer appellate services for a flat fee of only $3,500 for up to two issues and $1,000 per issue on appeal after that. Yes, you’ll still need to pay the court filing fee and transcription fee separate, but my flat fee offering is at least half or less than what you’ll pay just about anywhere else.

If you’re thinking about an appeal of your divorce decree in Arizona, time is of the essence. Call me right away and I can give you guidance on whether an appeal is right for you and I can quote you the cost up front with no surprises.