In a family court case, who may take an appeal to the Supreme Court, and against which judgment does that route open?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In practice material, we check which court issued the judgment the party is dissatisfied with, the certified copy of that judgment and the proof of service, and whether the papers are addressed to the Supreme Court and lodged within the period the provision sets.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading takes the provision's scope at face value: any party dissatisfied with the judgment of the appellate court may appeal to the Supreme Court, either within the period the provision sets, counted from the day the certified copy was served, or even before that service.
Another reading limits what this route reaches: the provision names the appellate court's judgment as the only target, so a party dissatisfied with a first-instance judgment must go through the appellate court first, and this provision alone does not say what the appellate court or the Supreme Court must then examine.
Your judgment
If a party is dissatisfied with the first-instance judgment, what in the file shows that the appellate stage has been completed before the Supreme Court is addressed?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We look at this again if the provision is amended to change the target judgment, the period or the effect of an appeal lodged before service, or if a court decision clarifies which judgments fall within its scope.