“I’ll take this all the way to the Supreme Court!”

A fair amount of family law cases are appealed in Mississippi. All are appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court, most are assigned to the Mississippi Court of Appeals (COA). This means the COA will decide your appeal.

An appeal, typically, does not result in an outright win. Most appeals are denied, as the chancery courts in Mississippi have a tremendous amount of discretion. There must be a showing of abuse of discretion and/or manifest error for an appeal to be successful. But, even then it may only be a paper victory.

An appellate win usually results in a remand. Meaning sent back to the same Judge for a new hearing on the issue(s) that the lower Court got wrong, and it’s usually with instruction on what and how to try the matter.

This often results in delay, more court and frequently no actual change in the outcome. The other tough thing in family law appeals is that time marches on.

The appeal of a custody matter could look vastly different two-years later and the Court, while “correcting” the past error, cannot ignore the now-current circumstances.

Be carefully with appealing your case. Talk to your attorney about potential outcomes and whether or not it will change the result.

Matthew Thompson is a Mississippi appeals attorney and has participated in over 30 appeals.