West v. Division of Child Support/ Tabetha Lewis

Opinion

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF DELAWARE

DALLAS WEST,1 § §

Petitioner Below, § No. 446, 2023 Appellant, § § Court Below—Family Court v. § of the State of Delaware §

DIVISION OF CHILD SUPPORT § File No. CN05-02715 SERVICES/TABETHA LEWIS, § Petition No. 23-13946 §

Respondent Below, § Appellee. §

Submitted: December 18, 2023 Decided: December 20, 2023

Before TRAYNOR, LEGROW, and GRIFFITHS, Justices.

ORDER

(1) The appellant filed this appeal from a child support order. The order, originally issued October 31, 2023, and amended November 13, 2023, was entered by a Family Court commissioner.

(2) The Senior Court Clerk issued a notice directing the appellant to show cause why this appeal should not be dismissed because this Court lacks jurisdiction to consider an appeal from a decision of a Family Court commissioner. In response to the notice, the appellant argues the merits of the appeal but does not address the Court’s lack of jurisdiction.

1 The Court previously assigned pseudonyms to the parties under Supreme Court Rule 7(d).

(3) This Court’s appellate jurisdiction over civil proceedings in the Family Court is limited to decisions issued by the judges of the Family Court. 2 Under 10 Del. C. § 915(d) and Family Court Civil Rule 53.1(a), a party’s right to appeal from a commissioner’s order is to a judge of the Family Court.3 An order issued by a commissioner is not a final judgment for purposes of appeal to this Court. 4 This Court therefore lacks jurisdiction to consider this appeal, and the appeal must be dismissed.

NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS ORDERED, under Supreme Court Rule 29(b), that the appeal is DISMISSED.

BY THE COURT:

/s/ Abigail M. LeGrow

Justice

2 Wilson v. Div. of Child Support Servs., 2021 WL 5028375 (Del. Oct. 28, 2021). 3 Id. 4 Id. (citing Redden v. McGill, 549 A.2d 695 (Del. 1988)).