Appeal

If by “interim support” you mean child support, then no, your appeal does not automatically stay the trial court’s child support ruling. On the contrary; as per NCGS 50-13.4(f)(9), the order is enforceable via contempt proceedings in the trial court during pendency of the appeal.

If you want to try to have the payments suspended during your appeal, you first need to move the trial court for a stay. The likelihood of this motion being allowed is pretty close to zero. If you’ve stopped making payments, the other side will likely move to have you held in contempt. At this point you can move the Court of Appeals for a temporary stay and simultaneously petition it for a writ of supersedeas. If you’re found to be in contempt, your appellate paperwork would also need to request a stay of the contempt order. The odds are not in your favor here, either.

Unless the trial court did something so crazy that it’s clearly beyond the pale of reason, your best bet is to make the periodic payments while your appeal is pending. If your appeal is successful, the appellate court’s decision will correct the errors of the trial court and you’ll receive credit for any overpayments you may have made. The situation you definitely don’t want to find yourself in is to have lost an appeal and still owe a whole bunch of money.

Thank you for your input; the support I am referring to is not child support but PSS. And in answer to your comment the trial judge did make a huge error during the ED. I am surpise sometimes by what trial judges think they can get away with; for the most part, they are betting on the fact that the party that is losing will give up. Even though they really could proceed through appeal and win. That’s my situation. On paper, the trial judge said his ordered is a 50/50 split; but in reality its not; how can it be 50/50 when I was ordered to give my ex-wife all of my 403k [%100]to the tune of $76,000.00 and 1/2 of my other retirement leaving me with less than $1,000.00 to live on a month. I am sixty with health issues and was hoping to retire next year after this was over but now with the court ruling, I will have to continue to work. The ruling judge did not consider any of the factors that would allow me to live at a standard I am accustom. We lost everything in 2000, my house, cars because of her excessive spending and the judge was also aware that she liqidated her 401k after the order was enter not to liqidated any assets and he did nothing. He was also aware that she forged my name to countless loans including auto loans and he did nothing. I didn’t know about the fraud until after we separated but my attonery did factor all of this in when he made his arguement during the trial. We owe federal taxes to the tune of $25,000.00 all because she carried 14 dependents during the year prior to our separation. In this ruling the judge did not address any of this; because trial judges do not have jurdistion over Federal tax she is not going to pay any of it. I have already paid a tremendous amount this balance she has paid nothing, again all of which the judge knew about and he also knew she forged my name to the tax returns and he did nothing. During the trial in '04 my attonery also pointed out that she filed her 2004 taxes married; we were separated in '02 and divorced in '03 she didn’t re-married until '05 so she used my information. According to the NC General statue 50(b) the ruling judge was to consider those things. They called it equalizing the estate, how can you equalize an estate and leave the other party in proverty and let a criminal prosper. Thanks again for the information.

Yep, if it was reversed, you the woman, it would have been totally different. That’s what MY experience tells me. They can get away with murder but us men, one tiny insignificant thing and we are either deadbeats or criminals or both… It’s not fair and it will never be fair…

I am still curious; when my appeal is filed does that automatically stay the trial judges final ruling and the interim support he ordered two months prior to his ruling until it is heard by the Court of Appeal? Or will I have to file a stay? I am really deseperate for this information; per my posting last month my attorney just informed me that he does not do appeals. I am still looking for someone but in the meantime I would love to know the answers to the above questions. Thank you