Rule 13 - Family court appeals(a)Applicability. This rule governs direct appeals from a family court final order to the Intermediate Court and appeals from the Intermediate Court to the Supreme Court, as well as appeals to the Supreme Court pursuant to West Virginia Code §51-2A-15(a), and appeals transferred to the Supreme Court pursuant to West Virginia Code §51-2A-14(f).(b)Direct Appeals to the Supreme Court from family court. An appeal from a final order of a family court may not be filed in the Supreme Court unless, within fourteen days after entry of a family court final order, both of the parties file a notice of intent to appeal directly to the Supreme Court and waive their right to appeal to the Intermediate Court.(c)Appeals from order of the family court to the Intermediate Court(1)Docketing an appeal. Within thirty days of entry of the order or judgment being appealed, the petitioner shall file the notice of appeal, including the required attachments, in the form contained in Appendix A of these Rules. The notice of appeal, including attachments, shall be filed in the Office of the Clerk as required by Rule 38. All parties to the proceeding below, including the guardians ad litem for the minor children, are deemed parties to the appeal. The notice of appeal shall be served on all parties to the appeal or, if represented, upon their attorneys, and a copy shall be filed with the circuit clerk.(2)Scheduling Order. As soon as practicable after the proper filing of the notice of appeal, a scheduling order will be issued. As appropriate to the circumstances, the scheduling order will contain the dates on which the petitioner's brief, the response brief, the reply brief, and the designated record or appendix shall be filed; will set forth whether a transcript will be prepared, the extent of any transcript, and the date the transcript is due; will set forth deadlines for filing motions; and may set forth such other matters as deemed beneficial or necessary. The scheduling order will set forth the official caption of the case, which should be used on the cover page of all documents filed with the Intermediate Court. If a party fails to comply with a scheduling order the Intermediate Court may impose sanctions or dismiss the appeal, or both.(3)Perfecting the appeal from family court to the Intermediate Court. An appeal from a decision of the family court to the Intermediate Court must be perfected within sixty days of entry of the judgment being appealed. An appeal is perfected by the timely and proper filing of the petitioner's brief and appendix record in the Office of the Clerk. The petitioner must file a brief in the same format as provided in Rule 10 and must comply with the page limitations set forth in Rule 38. The petitioner must file a separate appendix of documents relevant to the issues on appeal in accordance with Rule 7. The appendix shall contain the relevant documents submitted in the family court and must include the decision of the family court. (4)Respondent's brief in appeal to the Intermediate Court. Within fifteen days of the petitioner's brief, the respondent shall file a brief or summary response, together with any cross-assignment of error, in the same format as provided in Rule 10 and must comply with the page limitations set forth in Rule 38.(5)Reply brief in appeal to the Intermediate Court. If the respondent files a brief or summary response, or cross assignments of error, the petitioner may file a reply brief, which must comply with the page limitations set forth in Rule 38, within ten days of the respondent's brief or summary response.(6)Service. All documents shall be served on all parties to the appeal or, if represented, upon their attorneys.(7)Consideration of the appeal by the Intermediate Court. After the response brief or summary response has been filed, and any reply brief deemed necessary has been filed (or the time for filing a reply has expired), the appeal is deemed to be mature for full consideration by the Intermediate Court. Thereafter, the Intermediate Court will: (1) decide the case on the merits without oral argument; or (2) set the case for oral argument and decide the case on the merits; or (3) issue an appropriate order after considering any written and oral arguments made by the parties.(d) Appeals from the Intermediate Court to the Supreme Court in family court cases are governed by Rule 5 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.Amended June 15, 2022, effective 7/1/2022.