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I just received my final divorce decree, and custody was very unfavorable for me. I need to prepare for an appeal and need some help with what to expect and what I can/should be doing (beside hire a new attorney) The case was decided largely based on her testimony and was largely based on my lack of a full time job (which I understand should have zero bearing on the decision). In fact, the judge says that I wasn't the primary caregiver in spite of the fact I was home with kids 7 days a week and provide significantly to their upbringing. However, I can prove that I have looked for work (this evidence was not available at the trial) but I have found emails and several applications from online job sites going back two years. I would also like to present affidavits from witnesses to an incident at my work involving her and the kids to support the Police Incident Report. From what I understand I most likely can't present any new evidence for the appeal. Is this true?
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General Practice Attorney serving Ontonagon, MI
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Robert Peterson, Attorney at Law
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You cannot present new evidence on appeal. You can ask the district court though to enlarge the findings to ask whether the court considered and ruled on all the evidence in its ruling.
Appeals rule only on the court record- which is the court file, transcripts, and evidence. The idea is that the appellate courts determine whether the lower court erred in its ruling. If new evidence is provided to the appellate courts and was not ruled on by the lower court, the appellate courts cannot determine whether an error was made or not. So appellate courts cannot hear new evidence.
Answered on Nov 17th, 2013 at 4:02 PM