Difference between revisions of "How Do I Appeal an Interim Supreme Court Decision?"

Interim orders are made in the Supreme Court by a master or judge in chambers. Final orders are made by a judge following trial or with the agreement of the parties. The rules about appealing interim orders are different, depending on whether the order was made by a judge or a master.

==Master's orders==

An interim order made by a ''master'' can be appealed as of right to a judge of the Supreme Court. Because the appeal is being heard by a judge from the same level of court, you're not going to have to deal with Court of Appeal Rules and Court of Appeal forms.

===Steps for appealing a master's order===

Under Rule 22-7 of the Supreme Court Family Rules, an appeal from a master's decision is brought by filing a Notice of Appeal from Master, Registrar or Special Referee in Form F98 of the Supreme Court Family Rules within 14 days of the date the order was made. This deadline applies to orders that the master made under the Supreme Court Family Rules or the ''Family Law Act''. If the master made orders under the ''Divorce Act'', you have to look at section 21(3) of that Act, which says that an appeal must be made within 30 days.

The date the appeal <span class="noglossary">will</span> be heard is written on the Form 98 Notice of Appeal from Master, Registrar or Special Referee. It is a good idea to leave this part of the form blank until you've had a chance to talk to the court registry staff. Depending on how long your appeal <span class="noglossary">will</span> take to be heard and the court's schedule, they may want to select the date of the hearing for you.

It's important to know that filing Form F98 does not, on its own, operate to cancel the order pending the appeal. You can, if you want, apply to the master who made the order for an order that the order <span class="noglossary">will</span> be ''suspended'' until the appeal is heard.

When a master or judge makes a decision following a hearing, they do three things. First, the court makes a decision about the evidence and what the facts of the case are; this is called making a ''finding of fact''. Second, the court decides what the law applicable to the case is. Third, the court applies the law to the facts. These last two steps are called ''findings of law''.

In many cases, you <span class="noglossary">will</span> not be able to appeal a decision because the court made an mistake about a ''finding of fact''. Because an appeal court does not hear the evidence all over again, unless the master or judge made an enormous error in deciding the facts of the case, the facts that you <span class="noglossary">will</span> rely on at your appeal are the facts as the court found them to be.