2023 Hawaii Revised Statutes › Title 31. Family › 571. Family Courts › 571-54 Appeal.

§571-54 Appeal.
An interested party, aggrieved by any order or decree of the court, may appeal to the intermediate appellate court for review of questions of law and fact upon the same terms and conditions as in other cases in the circuit court, and review shall be governed by chapter 602, except as hereinafter provided. Where the decree or order affects the custody of a child or minor, the appeal shall be heard at the earliest practicable time. In cases under section 571-11, the record on appeal shall be given a fictitious title, to safeguard against publication of the names of the children or minors involved.
The stay of enforcement of an order or decree, or the pendency of an appeal, shall not suspend the order or decree of the court regarding a child or minor, or discharge the child or minor from the custody of the court or of the person, institution, or agency to whose care the child or minor has been committed, unless otherwise ordered by the family court or by the appellate court after an appeal is taken. Pending final disposition of the case, the family court or the appellate court, after the appeal is taken, may make such order for temporary custody as is appropriate in the circumstances. If the appellate court does not dismiss the proceedings and discharge the child or minor, it shall affirm or modify the order of the family court and remand the child or minor to the jurisdiction of the court for disposition not inconsistent with the appellate court's finding on the appeal.
An order or decree entered in a proceeding based upon section 571-11(1), (2), or (6) shall be subject to appeal only as follows:
Within twenty days from the date of the entry of any such order or decree, any party directly affected thereby may file a motion for a reconsideration of the facts involved. The motion and any supporting affidavit shall set forth the grounds on which a reconsideration is requested and shall be sworn to by the movant or the movant's representative. The judge shall hold a hearing on the motion, affording to all parties concerned the full right of representation by counsel and presentation of relevant evidence. The findings of the judge upon the hearing of the motion and the judge's determination and disposition of the case thereafter, and any decision, judgment, order, or decree affecting the child and entered as a result of the hearing on the motion, shall be set forth in writing and signed by the judge. Any party aggrieved by any such findings, judgment, order, or decree shall have the right to appeal therefrom to the intermediate appellate court, upon the same terms and conditions as in other cases in the circuit court, and review shall be governed by chapter 602; provided that no such motion for reconsideration shall operate as a stay of any such findings, judgment, order, or decree unless the judge of the family court so orders; and provided further that no informality or technical irregularity in the proceedings prior to the hearing on the motion for reconsideration shall constitute grounds for the reversal of any such findings, judgment, order, or decree by the appellate court. [L 1965, c 232, pt of §1; Supp, §333-28; HRS §571-54; am L 1973, c 211, §1(g); am L 1979, c 111, §21; am L 1983, c 27, §1 and c 171, §3; gen ch 1985; am L 2004, c 202, §54; am L 2006, c 3, §1 and c 94, §1; am L 2010, c 109, §1]
Rules of Court
Appeals, see HFCR rule 81(f); Hawaii Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Case Notes
Stay of execution of family court order waiving jurisdiction pending its appeal, granted when. 57 H. 413, 558 P.2d 483 (1976).
Divorce decree is final and appealable despite reservation of support or custody questions. 57 H. 519, 559 P.2d 744 (1977).
The State is not a "party aggrieved" for purposes of appealing waiver denial by family court. 67 H. 466, 691 P.2d 1163 (1984).
Conflict between rule 59(g)(1) of Hawai`i family court rules and this statute regarding time for filing motion for reconsideration, resolved in favor of the statute; rule 59(g)(1) held void. 77 H. 109, 883 P.2d 30 (1994).
Hawaii rules of appellate procedure, rule 4(a)(3) is inapplicable to family court cases governed by this section; in such cases, a notice of appeal is timely when it is filed within thirty days after the entry of the order resolving a motion for reconsideration filed in accordance with this section. 94 H. 485, 17 P.3d 217 (2001).
The fact that the question of who was responsible for payment for particular services received by the children could be decided independently from the need for the family court's continuing jurisdiction, coupled with the importance of obtaining a definitive ruling on the issue, established that the "requisite degree of finality" was present to permit appellate jurisdiction. 96 H. 272, 30 P.3d 878 (2001).
Minor's case dismissed for lack of appellate jurisdiction where the procedural requirements of this section were not met; minor did not move for reconsideration of the disposition of the case, no hearing to reconsider the disposition was held, and no final written judgment, order, or decree containing the findings and conclusions on which the family court based its disposition was entered. 102 H. 246, 74 P.3d 998 (2003).
Where mother filed the motion for reconsideration more than twenty days after entry of the disputed order, mother failed to comply with the statutory requirements of this section and appellate court thus lacked jurisdiction. 105 H. 505, 100 P.3d 75 (2004).
As Hawaii rules of appellate procedure rule 4(b) will not preclude untimely appeals in criminal cases where effective assistance of counsel is implicated by the untimely notice of appeal, so misapprehension of this section should not nullify appeals in juvenile law violator cases; thus, the right to effective assistance of counsel should apply in juvenile "law violator" cases as in adult criminal cases, and a defective appeal caused by counsel does not invalidate the appeal. 107 H. 12, 108 P.3d 966 (2005).
Family court orders assessing father's attorney fees and costs against mother were orders entered in a proceeding based upon §571-11(9) that fell within the ambit of this section and were expressly excluded by the Hawaii family court rules, rule 59(e) from its ambit. 113 H. 478 (App.), 155 P.3d 661 (2007).