Appeal time limits...

[dipper]

Soc,

We are in VA.  Court was on 1/19.  DH wants to appeal from J &D court to circuit court.  In an email, lawyer advised dh that he only has 10 days to file.

Last Friday, dh went to J & D and the young clerk gave him the correct form and stated that he has 10 business days from the date of hearing and she figured this to be 2/1.  As dh had not taken a check and you have to pay a fee to file the appeal, he brought the paper home.

Today I took the appeal form and check back to J & D.  The clerk of court was the only one there and she told me that we cannot file yet.  She said that the judge has to sign the newest order and we have 10 days from the date of his signature to do so. She would not take the appeal yet.

I looked on the website and this is what I found, which seems vague to me:
"Appeals must be noted with the clerk of the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court within 10 days (30 days for support cases tried under the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act) of the court's action by a party to the case or the party's attorney. "

It states court's action, not signed order.  DH's lawyer was not in this afternoon.  


Soc,
Based on all of this, any idea as to how long we have to file..and from what date we have to file?

[socrateaser]

>Based on all of this, any idea as to how long we have to
>file..and from what date we have to file?

Yep. Under the Final Judgment Rule, no appeal may be taken from a court until final judgment is entered. This means that until the final court order or judgment is stamped by the clerk as filed with the court, the clock for appeal doesn't start to run. Usually a court issues a "Notice of Entry of Final Judgment/Order," and sends it to the attorneys of record, or the party if indicated as pro se in the clerk's record of contact info.

But, for final hearing orders, frequently they don't send out a notice, because the system wasn't originally intended to deal with multiple final judgments. This is something rarely happens except in family law, where nothing is ever final, until no child or spousal support or property issues remain unterminated.

Anyway, bottom line is that until the order after hearing in your case is stamped, you can't appeal, and the stamped date is the date from which your time to appeal runs.