When to Appeal a New Jersey Family Court Decision

In Any Discretionary Decision, Was the Trial Judge Reasonable?

The other main area that frequently appears in family appeals is whether the judge abused their discretion in deciding a particular matter. Family part judges have considerable power to exercise their discretion in how to equitably decide a case and balance the fairness to the parties and best interests of the children. Discretionary decisions come into play in the amount of an alimony award or how to allocate assets during equitable distribution. Another example of this frequently seen in post-judgment motion practice is the allocation of counsel fees, which is entirely at the discretion of the judge. See Salch v. Salch, 240 N.J. Super. 441, 443 (App. Div. 1990). The applicable standard of review by the appellate division of discretionary decisions is whether the allocation falls within a reasonable exercise of the trial judge's discretion. See Borodinsky v. Borodinsky, 162 N.J. Super. 437, 444 (App. Div. 1978).

Conclusion

The purpose of this guide is to highlight some of the questions that need to be considered when deciding whether to appeal? If you can answer “yes” to the three previous questions then your chances of prevailing on appeal may not be as high as you might like. This brief discussion of appellate practice does not cover all the grounds for appeal e.g. when the judge erred in his interpretation of the law. An experienced appellate attorney should be consulted to review the unique facts of any case and provide legal advice on the merits of an appeal.

Additional Resources

A guide to the standards of review on appeal can be obtained on the New Jersey Judiciary web-site.

New Jersey Standards for Appellate Review

Comments - add comment

Peter Lomtevas

Avvo Rating: 6.7 (Good)

Posted 11 months ago.

Lawyer's Comment: I appreciate all the effort that went into this legal guide. I simply wish to point out that in my experience in cases around the country, the trend is for appellate courts to abstain from reviewing trial court orders. My belief is that appellate courts have "certified" and "qualified" forensic experts (custodial evaluators) and support staff (attorneys for the child(ren)) who profoundly intervene in trial court cases that enough credible basis exists for virtually any decision the trial judge wishes to render. So, even though in the normal course, a "final order" is appealable, the mere availability of so many appellate court certified support personnel serves to virtually eliminate the need for any appeal. Whether this is acceptable or terrible is not the subject of this comment.

Pieter Droppert

Avvo Rating: 6.3 (Good)

Posted 10 months ago.

Lawyer's Comment: I agree with Peter's comment that after a divorce trial where a Judge has made findings of fact, heard expert testimony and written a detailed opinion the chances of a successful appeal are low. However, as any family law attorney will know where alimony, child support or child custody are involved there is a good chance that issues will arise after a divorce that result in having to go back to court and file a motion. This could be to enforce payment of support obligations, to modify alimony or child support as a result of changed circumstances (loss of job, lower salary), obtain approval to move with children to another state, emancipate a child or a need to modify the parenting time schedule. Many of the orders from these post-judgment motions are appealed in New Jersey and the advice contained in this guide is more applicable to those cases.

Posted 10 months ago.

lcollins105's Comment: Am I able to obtain transcripts of an inappropreate outburst from a NJ family court Judge? This is the second outburst from this Judge against the same person, the first time it was toward the persons lawyer and the second was directly toward the plantiff herself.

Top Family Contributors