Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Family Law Procedure

When a Florida family law case is decided on appeal, the appellate court usually remands the case to the trial court with instructions on how to proceed in the case. The trial court is bound by those instructions. What can a party to the case do if the trial court fails to follow the instructions? This was an issue in the case Temple v. Melchione, 6D23-2180 (Fla. 6th DCA July 28, 2023).

In this child support case, the trial court originally dismissed the mother’s petition for child support, holding it lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The case went to appeal, and the appellate court affirmed the trial court’s ruling dismissing the case. A successor judge then entered an order reserving jurisdiction over the mother’s child support claim. The father filed a writ of prohibition with the appellate court.

The appellate court held the successor judge’s action was “impermissible”, citing Milton v. Keith, 503 So. 2d 1312, 1313 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987) (“[O]nce an appellate court affirms an order, judgment or decree, the trial court loses all authority to change, modify, nullify or evade that order, judgment or decree.”) and Dow Corning Corp. v. Garner, 452 So. 2d 1, 2 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984) (“Absent permission to do so, the trial court on remand is without authority to alter or evade the mandate of this court.”). The writ of prohibition was therefore granted “to preclude the trial court from taking any further action which is not directed by an appellate court of this State.”

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