Rule 378.Appeal to Court of Appeals
Last amended January 1, 2020 · Last verified July 1, 2026
Full Text of Rule 378
Advisory Committee Comments
Amendment History
- (Amended effective January 1, 2020.)
Plain-English Summary
Rule 378 is the on-ramp to the court of appeals. A party may appeal a child support magistrate’s final order or judgment, or a final order deciding a motion for review under Rule 376, following the same Minnesota Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure that govern other civil appeals. The clock runs for 60 days from the date the court administrator serves notice that the order was filed or the judgment entered.
That 60-day clock does not run while a timely motion to correct clerical mistakes under Rule 375 or a motion for review under Rule 376 is still pending. It starts over for every party once the last such motion is decided, counting from the date the court administrator serves notice of that decision. Filing a notice of appeal before one of those motions is resolved does not work — the notice has no effect, and it does not strip the child support magistrate of authority to finish deciding the motion.
A party does not have to bring a motion for review before appealing — going straight to the court of appeals is allowed. But skipping that step narrows the appeal considerably, since the court of appeals will look mainly at whether the evidence backs up the magistrate’s findings and whether those findings support the judgment, rather than every issue a motion for review might have reached.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to appeal a child support magistrate’s decision to the court of appeals?
60 days from the date the court administrator serves notice that the order was filed or the judgment entered, unless a timely motion to correct clerical mistakes or motion for review is still pending.
Does filing a motion to correct clerical mistakes or a motion for review change my appeal deadline?
Yes. The 60-day appeal clock pauses for every party while that motion is pending, and starts running again once the child support magistrate or district court judge decides it and the court administrator serves notice of that decision.
What happens if I file a notice of appeal while a motion for review is still pending?
The notice has no effect. Filing it early does not take away the child support magistrate’s authority to go ahead and decide the pending motion.
Do I have to bring a motion for review before appealing to the court of appeals?
No. A party can appeal directly, but doing so narrows the appeal to whether the evidence supports the magistrate’s findings and whether those findings support the judgment.
What procedure governs an appeal under Rule 378?
Except where the family court procedure rules themselves provide otherwise, the Minnesota Rules of Civil Appellate Procedure govern how the appeal is taken and processed.
Advisory Committee Comment
Timing. Under Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 104.01, the sixty (60) days in which to bring an appeal to the court of appeals begins to run on the date of service by any party of written notice of filing of an appealable order or on the date on which an appealable judgment is entered. The Advisory Committee intends that Rule 378 supersede the appellate rule to provide that the sixty (60) days to appeal begins to run from the time the court administrator serves the written notice of filing of order or notice of entry of judgment.
Scope of Review. A party may choose to bring a motion to correct clerical mistakes, or a motion for review, or to appeal directly to the court of appeals thus bypassing the first two options. However, if a party chooses the option of appealing directly to the court of appeals without first bringing a motion for review, such an appeal will be limited to determining whether the evidence sustains the findings of fact (to which the “clearly erroneous” standard of review applies) and whether the findings support the conclusions of law and the judgment. Kahn v. Tronnier, 547 N.W.2d at 428 , rev. denied (Minn. July 10, 1996). Thus, although a motion for review is very important to obtaining the broadest possible appellate review, it is not an absolute prerequisite to appeal--a litigant can choose to file a direct appeal from the order of the child support magistrate, but the appeal will be limited to issues within that narrower scope of review.