Appeal in Family Law Case - Cumulative Error

[TRS0430]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. l am in CA

I know the law requires you to appeal within 60 days for an order issued after a final judgement. But I am wondering if there are any cases at all where a series of bad rulings and bad findings of fact (which were all objected to), and then the judge is asked to remove themselves because of prejudice but the judge respods by saying they are not prejudice and that they just dont believe the party....., then the party does not reply because I knew I could prove what I said was true......, HOWEVER from that point on the judge further abuses their discretion and denied me any opportunity to present evidence and witnesses and ends up turning the whole custody/visitation/financial issues upside down and now it is hurting my kids and I so I am appealing.

My specific question is since I did not appeal the many earlier bad rulings (because I figured there must be a method to the judge's madness even though I did not understand what it could be) and the earlier rulings were all "labeled" temporary but now have appealed on this last ruling because my kids and I are suffering bad and feeling the effects************** can I include the other rulings in my appeal and call it "cumulative error" and/or complain the judge should have recused themselves earlier? I am not really looking for specific "legal advice" here because my case is complex and too dificult to get into all the particulars here, BUT has there ever been a family law case where they take in several hearings at once? Some of the hearings were visitation, some were attorney fees, and some were discovery with the last one being visitation and custody... and of course the recusal the judge should have taken.What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[Ronin]

It appears from your other posts that you have filed a notice of appeal this week as a pro se. If you are considering appealing based upon cumulative error you must be able to establish that if not for the totality of such error there is no possible way the court would have ruled as it did. An extremely difficult burden to overcome.

…I did not appeal the many earlier bad rulings … and the earlier rulings were all “labeled” temporary

Temporary orders such as these are interlocutory and are not appealable.

has there ever been a family law case where they take in several hearings at once?

Many. Any or all hearings in a case from its inception to final judgment could be relevant to the issues raised on appeal.

.. and of course the recusal the judge should have taken.

Read up on what your state considers valid reasons for a judges recusal. If there was a bona fide basis for asking a judge to recuse, you made a motion based upon that, and it was denied, you may have something. Otherwise you feeling that a judge did not like you or was out to get you won’t get you very far. Judges have the discretion to say they do not believe your testimony on matters you did not support with more credible evidence.

An appeal will require you to pay to have the Clerks and Reporters records sent to the court of appeals. You will have to track down the different court reporters for your hearings and pay each of them to transcibe and send their transcripts to the appeals court. I think you stated somewhere you had a two day trial. This alone could easily cost a couple of thousand dollars to have the court reporter transcribe and send this to the appeals court.

You will have to prepare an appellant brief. If you fall into the trap of most pro se appellants and rant and accuse the judge of being an idiot or corrupt or other personally insulting remarks your appeal is dead in the water.

Don't be surprised if the other side simply ignores your notice of appeal. The only time they are required to respond is after you have filed your appellant brief and the court has notified them to file a reply brief. The wheels turn slowly. If you are lucky you may get a decision on your case from the appeals court about this time next year.

A note of caution is that if you proceed with an appeal that is deemed frivolous you could be ordered to pay the attorney fees for the other side. While most appeals courts are lenient and avoid ordering attorney fees to be paid, a really botched appeal may incur the wrath of the judges on the appeals court.

 

[TRS0430]

Thank you Ronin! YOU have answered my question about this! I am aware of the reporter's fees for transcripts, and yes it is very costly..... one thing that is a recent law on this though is that you dont have to order the ENTIRE hearing, for instance at one hearing the expert witness testified and my ex testified and then I was put on the stand for a day and a half over repeated objections by my former attorney on irrelevant matters and I will not be ordering my testimony from this hearing but only the relevant testimony of about 2 hours.

By the way, as of yet I have not accused my judge of being corupt, and instead have just cited multiple "errors" which my former attorney also did.