As with other types of legal matters, it may be possible to appeal the decision reached by a divorce court regarding an Orlando divorce case. By appealing a divorce court ruling, one of the spouses will be challenging the court’s decision in an attempt to change the rights and obligations required by the final divorce judgment.
When a trial court judge decides a divorce matter, it may be possible to appeal to a higher court in an attempt to overrule that decision. Although it is not common for ex-spouses to be successful in a divorce appeal, there are some instances when it is possible to prevail in such an appeal.
The divorce appeals process involves writing what is called an appellate brief. The brief will contain legal arguments that reference appropriate statutes and case law to support a reversal and/or change to the lower court’s ruling. The party who is not satisfied with the lower court ruling will use its appellate brief to argue why the law was not correctly applied to the previous decision. Meanwhile, the other party will also file an appellate brief arguing why the other court’s decision was appropriate. Oral arguments from both sides may later be heard in trial proceedings.
Unlike a lower court trial decision, independently agreed-upon divorce settlements usually are not eligible for appeal. In most divorce settlements that have been reached, agreed to by both parties and approved by a divorce court judge, these agreements are final and cannot be challenged. If changes are required to the settlement agreement, a request for modification will need to be made, and in some situations these modifications are possible.
Orlando spouses who are not satisfied with the decision of a divorce court judge that they think is unfair may want to speak with a family law firm, such as the law firm of Mercedes R. Wechsler, PA, about the possibility of an appeal. Although divorce court appeals are rare, some circumstances may warrant this kind of legal action in order to preserve the rights of parties that have been unfairly compromised.
