INSTRUCTIONS AND PRECAUTIONS FOR USE 
                        OF THE NOLAWYER NOTICE OF APPEAL 

1. NEVER assume that a universal document is correct for your state and court; try to determine
BEFORE YOU FILE if the above form will be acceptable to the Clerk of your court. It is believed
by NOLAWYER to contain the minimum basic elements for the filing of a notice of appeal
anywhere, but no guarantees of format, sufficiency or acceptability are made.

2. Find out IMMEDIATELY how many days you have from the date of signing of your
Judgment/Decree or other FINAL order to file a Notice of Appeal. In some courts and in some
kinds of cases, it can be 10, 20 or 30 days. IF YOU WAIT BEYOND THE APPEAL PERIOD FOR
YOUR CASE, YOU HAVE LOST YOUR RIGHT OF APPEAL AND CANNOT FILE THE NOTICE. SPEED
IS CRUCIAL!!!! 

3. Check with the Clerk of Court as to where the Notice of Appeal and subsequent papers are to
be filed. In most instances, the initial Notice of Appeal is filed in the Court that issued the
Judgment or Decree that you are appealing, not in the higher appeals court. Later papers may
go to the higher court, depending upon procedures in your state. Ask the Clerk to be sure! 

4. The Clerk may, instead of accepting this form, require that you use the Clerk's own provided
form. Go with the flow. Fill out theirs, if that's what they want. What's important is to FILE A
TIMELY NOTICE OF APPEAL TO STOP THE CLOCK FROM RUNNING.

4. You may be required, depending on your state and court rules, to pay various fees or bonds
along with the Notice of Appeal. The Clerk should be able to tell you what these are. There may
be a simple Appeal Filing Fee. If the judgment you are appealing requires you to pay a sum of
money, the filing of the Notice of Appeal alone may not stop the other party's right to collect. A
"supersedeas bond" in the amount of the judgment or larger may be required to be posted in
order to stop collection or execution ofthe judgment while it is on appeal. 

5. To carry through your appeal, be prepared to arrange and pay for, if necessary, the
preparation of a complete Court Reporter's Transcript of what was said at your trial, if any, and
possibly to pay for the Clerk's photocopy costs required to send the Appeals Court a copy of
the file (the papers filed by both sides plus notations or memoranda placed into the file by the
Court itself. You may be required to obtain a "docket" or listing of the papers already in your
court file, originals or copies of which will be sent up to the higher court. In some instances,
you may save a portion of the clerk's photocopying expense by giving the clerk a clearly
prepared list of only those docket papers which you wish to have the court of appeals refer to.
Safest is to let all the court's docketed papers be transmitted to the higher court. 

6. EITHER you will be sent a "briefing schedule" telling when your "Opening Brief" will be due,
or your state may have a fixed number of days (usually more than 30) AFTER the Notice of
Appeal is filed, in which you must prepare and file your Opening Brief. Beware! Failure to pay
fees or to timely file the Opening Brief may result in permanent dismissal of your Appeal.
Sometimes a written motion for extension of time will succeed in delaying the briefing schedule,
BUT THE NUMBER OF DAYS FOR FILING THE NOTICE OF APPEAL IN MOST CASES CANNOT BE
EXTENDED. 

--
"(I'll) Be Seeing You..."    All information and transactions are
private between the parties, and are non negotiable.   All rights
reserve without prejudice Angela Kahealani.  http://kahealani.com