Opinion ID: 2168806
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Family Court Jurisdiction Pending Appeal

Text: The respondent seeks first to vacate all orders entered by the Family Court after August 29, 1973. His contention is that upon his filing a notice of appeal from the divorce decree entered on August 8, the case was removed from Family Court jurisdiction to Supreme Court jurisdiction and any subsequent orders by the Family Court were void. We note first, as we did above, that respondent's appeal from that final decree was denied in February 1974 so that only actions taken during the period from August to February are at issue. Second, the decree entered on August 8 was a final divorce decree which was not reviewable upon appeal, G.L.1956 (1969 Reenactment) § 14-1-52, as amended by P.L.1972, ch. 169, § 28; see also DeLuca v. DeLuca, 72 R.I. 34, 47 A.2d 915 (1946), so that the cause in divorce was not properly brought before us and we were without jurisdiction to review it, see Tobin v. Tobin, 70 R.I. 362, 370, 38 A.2d 756, 760 (1944). Jurisdiction therefore remained in the Family Court throughout the period in question. Similarly, respondent's notice of appeal of March 6, 1975, did not remove the case from Family Court jurisdiction. [4] The attempted appeal was taken from two actions of the court. First was the February 7 decision of the court which was not reviewable until embodied in a decree on May 16 (which decree is presently on appeal). Culpepper v. Martins, 96 R.I. 328, 331, 191 A.2d 285, 287 (1963); see also Poirier v. Poirier, 107 R.I. 345, 350 n. 1, 267 A.2d 390, 393 n.1 (1970); Botelho v. Botelho, 96 R.I. 379, 380, 192 A.2d 5, 6 (1963). The second was a decree entered on March 6 ordering the receivers and commissioners to appoint two appraisers. That decree also was not reviewable. It was not final and did not come within either the statutory exceptions, § 9-24-7, or the common law exception, McAuslan v. McAuslan, supra , to the rule that only final decrees are reviewable, § 14-1-52, as amended by P.L. 1972, ch. 169, § 28. Thus, because the March 6, 1975 appeal was premature and the August 29, 1973 appeal was too late, jurisdiction did not vest in this court before May 16, 1975. The Family Court, then, had jurisdiction over this case when it entered the decree which is now on appeal.