Divorce: Can I Appeal The Judge’s Ruling?

If a Judge issues an Order or a Ruling, can you appeal that ruling? The answer is yes, and there are actually a few different ways to appeal a Judge’s Order or Ruling.

The traditional way to appeal a Judge’s Order or Ruling is to file an Appeal with the Appellate Courts of New York.  The Appellate Courts can overturn, modify or confirm the Judge’s Order/Ruling.  In order to file an Appeal, you must file the Notice of Appeal within 30 days of the Order/Ruling.  This is a very strict deadline, and if it is missed, it is almost impossible to file “late.”  You will usually have to wait a long time before your Appeal is decided.  Most importantly, because Appeals require a lot of effort and work, they are usually very costly.

There are two other ways to change a Judge’s Order/Ruling.  You will notice that I use the word “change”, instead of appeal.  That is because, these two other methods are not a traditional appeal, but, instead, you are asking the Judge to change his or her ruling. The two ways to change a Judge’s Order/Ruling are called: “A Motion to Reargue” and “A Motion to Renew”.

The Motion to Reargue means that the Judge missed (overlooked) or misapplied a Matter of Law or a Matter of Fact. A good example of how a Motion to Reargue could be used is when the Judge says that the Law requires “X”, when it is clear that the Law requires “Y”.  Another good example is when the Judge’s Ruling misstates a known fact about the case, such as stating that the Wife was unemployed throughout the marriage, when in fact, the Wife was employed throughout the marriage. It is important to note that with a Motion to Reargue, you cannot offer “new facts”.

The Motion to Renew means that you want the Judge to consider either “new facts” or to consider facts that were not presented to the Judge the first time. In order to present a Motion to Renew, you have to also show a reasonable excuse (also called a reasonable justification) as to why the facts were not offered in the first place.

As you can probably guess, it is difficult to succeed on a Motion to Reargue or a Motion to Renew as you are asking the same Judge to basically admit that their original Order/Ruling was incorrect.

If you believe that the Judge has made a “bad” ruling and want to appeal that ruling, please contact the Badanes Law Office and David Badanes. The Badanes Law Office represents clients in Suffolk County, Nassau County and in New York City.

If you need an attorney, call David Badanes and the Badanes Law Office at 631-239-1702, email at david@dbnylaw.com or visit our web site: www.dbnylaw.com.  The Badanes Law Office has offices in Northport, Garden City, Brooklyn and Manhattan.

Please like us on Facebook to get important legal news, tips and articles: www.facebook.com/BadanesLawOffice.