Colorado Appellate Attorney

Family Law and Filing an Appeal

When Can You Appeal a Court’s Decision?

While the appeals process can be complicated, an appeals attorney in Colorado can petition a court to change its decision by appealing your case’s outcome. Doing so, however, requires that certain circumstances and legal requirements are met. In order to argue for a successful appeal, our attorney will look for:

• A misinterpretation of the law
• A ruling judge’s abuse of discretion
• A misapplication of a rule
• A lack of evidence or use of inadmissible evidence.

If our appellate attorney can identify any of the above factors that could have affected your ruling, a successful appeal may be possible. While the appellate process does not involve the introduction of new evidence or testimony, it provides an opportunity to identify a lapse or error in the preceding legal processes.

How Can I Appeal a Court’s Decision?

Your family law attorney or an attorney experienced with the appellate process should review your case if you think there are grounds for an appeal. The first step will be to look for a legal basis for an appeal. Remember, even if you’re unhappy with a court and judge’s decision, an appeal cannot advance without a solid legal basis.

Our appellate attorney can review your case to determine legal grounds for appeal and how to proceed with the steps for filing an appeal.

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In addition to reviewing the facts and processes of your case, a lawyer who handles appellate cases can help with:

• Filing a notice of appeal to initiate the appeals process
• Preparing the necessary materials and paperwork, including briefs and oral arguments, for an appeals court
• Explaining why a ruling was unfair or unjust
• Keeping the appeals process on time.

A notice of appeal must be filed within 49 days of the court’s issuing of final orders. Filing deadlines are strict, so it’s best to contact our Denver appellate attorney right away if you are thinking of appealing a decision. Get help today by calling us at 720-615-1750.

Court Orders Subject to Appeal

Divorce, Child Custody, and Other Family Law Disputes

If you have been dealt with unjustly by the courts, or if lawyers or a judge made a mistake during court processes, you deserve a second chance, and your case deserves another look. If facts were misrepresented at your case, a resulting improper decision can significantly affect your rights, responsibilities, and freedoms in terms of settling a divorce or even visiting your child.

In family law, various court orders and decisions can be given a second look via the appeals process if there are sufficient legal grounds for doing so. Court orders pertaining to divorce agreements, child custody, property division, child support, and other areas could all have bases for appeal.

Appealing Division of Property in a Divorce

Colorado, as with other states, has its own laws in determining how couples’ property is divided during a divorce. While couples can come to mutual agreement as to who gets what, divorce lawyers and courts often have to step in to determine distribution of property.

While Colorado couples are entitled to equitable property division, if a court has improperly decided to give property to an opposing party, an appeal may be possible. Designating property as marital property or separate property affects ownership, and an appellate court can review a trial judge’s decision concerning equitable property.

How to Appeal a Child Custody and Visitation Agreement

While courts tend to prefer a situation where parents jointly make major decisions for their child and share in parental responsibilities, joint allocation requires collaboration. A parenting plan imposed by a court may also limit visitation time for the parent with whom the child does not reside. A child custody agreement and visitation agreement should serve the best interests of the child, first and foremost.

If visitation conditions do not meet a child’s best interests or if a court abused its discretion in granting sole custody or decision-making abilities to only one parent, contacting our appellate lawyer and filing an appeal may be your best option to resolve a child custody agreement.

Child Support and Appealing Court Decisions

If parents cannot reach a child support agreement on their own, the court will decide for them. While each parent’s income and other factors determine child support payment amounts, the court can increase or decrease that amount based on its discretion.

Judges seek to make sure that the amount of child support provides for a child’s best interests. But if a court abused its discretion, an appeal may be in order.

Spousal Support and Maintenance

Many factors go into deciding the need for and amount of spousal maintenance, such as income and financial disparities, asset division, and length of a marriage. A judge may make an appealable error in deciding for or against the need for spousal maintenance payments.

FAQs

Common Questions for An Appellate Attorney

The appeals process can be complex and involve the application of specific laws and legal knowledge. While you probably primarily wish to know if your appeal will succeed, you may have several other questions about the process. Below are several common questions that our appeals lawyer receives.

Our Colorado appeals attorney can provide more information about the appeals process and how it pertains to your case. While no attorney can guarantee an outcome after filing an appeal, speaking with an attorney and learning more about where your case stands can be especially helpful.

Possible Outcomes after Filing an Appeal

After reviewing your case, an appellate court will reach one of four results:

• Affirm – The court’s original decision is upheld.
• Reversal of the Decision – The court’s initial decision is deemed invalid.
• Remand – Your case is sent back to family court to be heard again.
• Modification – The original decision is modified in part as a result of the appeal.

There are more possible outcomes than a court’s decision simply being affirmed or reversed. Therefore, the outcome of a case in appellate court might still not provide a final decision.

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