A North Carolina judge issues a permanent custody order in a deeply contentious case. It takes time to absorb the impact, to grasp how it will affect your family for years. Unfortunately, if you are considering appeal, there is not going to be much time to spare. The North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure tell us that a party must "serve a notice of appeal within thirty days after entry of judgment." N.C. R. App. Pro., Rule 3(c)(1). That means, a party seeking to appeal a custody order, for example, has to move quickly. That party has only thirty days to review the trial proceedings, the evidence, and the ruling to determine if there was an appealable error. That means only thirty days to research the caselaw and evaluate whether there is a chance of success on appeal. It's not a lot of time to work with. And if the party seeking appeal fails to serve notice of appeal within thirty days? The right to appeal is lost. The order stands.
Every stage of the appeal is as strictly governed by deadlines. Serving the contract for transcription, serving the proposed record on appeal, filing briefs--all require exacting attention to the timelines demanded by the North Carolina Rules of Appellate Procedure. A party that fails to heed them risks losing the right to appeal. But the most critical timing is arguably that initial evaluation period when every second lost means less time to examine the record carefully and research existing precedent, to determine whether there is a viable case on appeal. If you think you might have a case that would benefit from appeal, call Walsh Estate & Family Law today.
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