McElroy & Durham, PC 

OREGON FAMILY LAW APPEALS

Occasionally, a trial judge may err in making a decision on a case and it may be necessary to file an appeal.  It is important to have an attorney experienced with the Oregon appellate process to assist you.  This is because there are strict timelines and filing requirements in the appellate process.  If these are not met, your appeal will be dismissed and you will lose the ability to contest the trial judge's decision.  

During the appellate process, legal briefs are filed by both parties and a panel of appellate judges may also hear oral arguments from each side. The panel will review the trial court record anew and take a fresh look at the evidence presented at the trial level in order to decide whether the judge's opinion was correct.  Because the appellate judges do not hear any new evidence during an appeal, it is important to ensure that a thorough record is made before the judge at the trial level.

In making their decision, the appellate judges can choose to affirm the trial judge's ruling without writing an opinion, affirm the ruling and write a detailed opinion explaining the reason for their affirmation, or overturn the trial judge's opinion, in which case an opinion explaining the reasoning is always written.

At McElroy & Durham, we can provide legal assistance to you all the way through the trial court level and your appeal.  By doing so, our attorneys are intimately familiar with the facts of your case, the legal issues and the record made at trial.  You will not need to retain a new attorney and pay fees to bring your new attorney up to speed on your case, which may be more costly. 

Please contact our office today to speak with one of our experience Oregon family law attorneys in more detail.

Still have questions? Please click here to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.