DIY Divorce in Florida

What Does a Remand Mean in Your Divorce Case?

If you are one of the lucky ones and succeed in your appeal, the appeallate court may "remand" your DIY divorce case to the trial court. But what does that really mean? Well, first things first - it means that you do not have an order any longer. Your appeal succeeded and it served to wipe out the order or judgment that was appealed.

The remand is an instruction to the trial court to re-do the trial which led to the order that was overturned on appeal. Similar to a mulligan in golf, you have a chance to present the evidence again. As a practical matter this means that you need to move the case toward trial again. A remand also means that nothing in the original order which was appealed still stands. So there is no child support order to be enforced. There is no alimony order to be enforced. In fact, you may not even be divorced if it was a final judgment disoolving your marriage.

It is important to read the remand order carefully and follow its instructions precisely. This is a good time to seek out unbundled legal services so that your case stays on track.

 

Why Get a Court Reporter?

 
When DIYers come to me for trial coaching, the questions always arises, "Why should I spend the money on a court reporter?" While I encourage you to settle your differences, sometimes that's not possible. If your case is going to trial, you need to plan for a possible appeal. If you are going to trial, I encourage you to seek counsel. It is not easy to conduct a trial, especially without legal training. But I know some of you are going to trial in do it yourself divorces.

Without a transcript from a court reporter, you will have a difficult, if not impossible, time appealing. That's because an appeals court will not re-try your case. It will be looking at whether there were errors by the trial judge. That means the appellate judges will be looking at the court file and the transcript to see how the judge handled things in your case.

Without a transcript, you will have to have your spouse and the trial court approve a statement of facts. If that doesn't happen, your appeal is likely to get nowhere if you don't have a transcript of the trial. That's what the court of appeals needs to see in order to properly consider your appeal.

So if your case is headed for trial, go ahead an spend the money for a court reporter. It's just silly to spend the time and resources to go to trial and not have a reporter. In the grand scheme of things, the cost is small compared to the potential benefit of having a court reporter at your Florida divorce trial.

Florida Divorce: Foreclosure as Means to Revenge

Florida appellate attorney Robin Bresky, from Boca Raton, often handles family law appeals. Today she shares an article from her blog with us:  

One of the most prominent disputes amongst divorcing couples is the division or disposal of the marital home. And, due to the current economic conditions, homes have been almost impossible to sell and many have fallen into foreclosure. A status most would try to avoid; but may not always be the case when resentful behavior plays a factor, and when we act on emotion instead of sound judgment.

After a long term marriage and subsequent divorce, a trial court had awarded title, for purposes of selling a multimillion dollar home, to the former wife. The house had gone into foreclosure during the divorce proceeding, but the former wife had a buyer for the home. The ex-husband appealed the house being put in the wife’s name. He had a right to appeal as the order concerned entitlement to property. Although the former wife had a buyer for the marital home, the former husband was willing to loose the house to foreclosure rather than sell it and divide its worth. The ex- wife could not get a title company to give clear title, based on the pending appeal. Moreover, the buyer she had, pursuant to their contract, was able to walk away from the deal, if clear title was not obtained, after a certain date.

Typically, the appeals process can be lengthy, sometimes lasting even years. Transcripts of the proceeding below must be ordered and presented to the appellate court, all sides must prepare and submit briefs, once the briefing process is completed, and it’s reviewed by a three- judge panel. Understanding the importance of time, our firm successfully motioned the appellate court to expedite the appeal on behalf of the former wife. In a little less than two months a decision was rendered. We had won the appeal and received a per curium affirmance, which means the appellate court upheld the trial court’s order. The house will not be lost to foreclosure and the closing is now set to go forward.

My job as an appellate attorney is to be knowledgeable in black-letter law, the appeals process and in writing effective appellate briefs; and concisely explaining why the appellate court judges should or should not affirm the circuit court’s decision. Seeking my expertise, as an appellate attorney, allowed for the former wife to silence her ex-husband’s attempt to be spiteful and prevented foreclosure of the marital home.

 

Robin Bresky, Law Offices of Robin Bresky