654 A.2d 424

James HANSON v. Patricia HANSON.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Submitted on briefs Jan. 6, 1995.

Decided Feb. 8, 1995.

Roger G. Innes, Mt. Desert, for plaintiff.

Sandra Hylander Collier, Ferm, Collier & Larson, Ellsworth, for defendant.

Before WATHEN, C.J., and ROBERTS, GLASSMAN, CLIFFORD, RUDMAN, DANA and LIPEZ, JJ.

RUDMAN, Justice.

Patricia Hanson appeals from the Superior Court order (Hancock County, Browne, ARJ.) dismissing as untimely her appeal from an amended divorce judgment of the District Court (Bar Harbor, Staples J.). Because we find that the Superior Court retained jurisdiction to dispose of the appeal and no additional notice of appeal was necessary after the entry of the amended judgment, we vacate the judgment of the Superi- or Court and remand for consideration of the appeal.

This case involves two young children and a long, bitterly contested divorce. Patricia and James Hanson married in 1976 and commenced this action in October 1990 after fourteen years of marriage. The trial court (Staples, J.) entered a divorce judgment on January 15, 1992, which Patricia appealed to the Superior Court.

*425The Superior Court (Mead J.) affirmed the District Court’s judgment in part, but found that review of the court’s division of the marital property and allocation of a lump sum alimony award was not possible given the absence of a factual justification in the record. The court remanded the case to the District Court for that factual finding and for an entry of a final judgment on the remaining issues on appeal.1

On remand, the District Court made findings of fact to justify its division of the marital property and its failure to award periodic alimony. The court then entered an amended divorce judgment. Patricia filed a notice of appeal from the entry of the amended divorce judgment. The Superior Court (Browne, ARJ.) dismissed the appeal as untimely on the basis that the notice of appeal was not filed within 80 days from the date of the entry of the amended judgment. M.R.CÍV.P. 76D.

Patricia asserts that the Superior Court retained jurisdiction over her appeal pending the remand to the District Court for findings of fact, and therefore, her notice of appeal from the amended divorce judgment was unnecessary. We agree.

When it considered the appeal from the original divorce judgment, the Superior Court had an inadequate record before it. It duly noted that flaw in the District Court judgment and remanded to the District Court for factfinding. Implicit in that request for factfinding was the retention of jurisdiction over the appeal.2 We discern no purpose served by the remand for factfinding had the Superior Court intended to relinquish jurisdiction to the District Court. By remanding for factfinding, the Superior Court preserved its authority to rule on the appeal once the necessary facts for review were provided by the District Court. Consequently, the notice of appeal filed after the entry of the amended divorce judgment was superfluous. Patricia filed a timely notice of appeal after entry of the January 15, 1992 divorce judgment, and with its remand order, the Superior Court retained jurisdiction to consider her appeal after the District Court made its findings of fact and entered the amended judgment.3

The entry is:

Judgment vacated. Remand to the Superior Court for consideration of the appeal from the amended judgment of the District Court.

All concurring.

Hanson v. Hanson
654 A.2d 424

Case Details

Name
Hanson v. Hanson
Decision Date
Feb 8, 1995
Citations

654 A.2d 424

Jurisdiction
Maine

References

Referencing

Nothing yet... Still searching!

Referenced By

Nothing yet... Still searching!