Rule 72.Certification.
Current through February 2024 · Last verified September 12, 2026
Full Text of Rule 72
Amendment History
Rhode Island does not publish a per-rule amendment history inside the compiled rules text reproduced here. The text above is verified current through the source’s own February 2024 printing; for the underlying adopting orders and any later amendments, see the Rhode Island Judiciary’s compiled rules page.
Plain-English Summary
Certification moves a case, or one question inside it, from the Family Court up to the Supreme Court. Rule 72 does not decide when that can happen. A statute has to provide for certification in the first place. What the rule supplies is the procedure for using that statute once it exists.
Subdivision (a) covers the party's route. You ask by motion, and you serve that motion on every other party at least ten days before the time fixed for the hearing. The motion must specify the matter you want certified. A request that waves at the case in general gives the court nothing to send up, so the drafting of that motion carries real weight.
Subdivision (b) covers the court's own route. Before the Family Court certifies on its own initiative, it must give the parties a chance to be heard twice over: on whether to certify at all, and on the wording any certified question will take. That second piece matters, because the rule treats the form of the question as its own subject for argument, separate from whether to certify at all.
The rule closes off an argument people try. The right to be heard under subdivision (b) applies whether the statute orders the Family Court to certify or leaves the decision to its discretion. A mandatory statute does not let the court skip the hearing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I ask the Rhode Island Family Court to send a question to the Supreme Court?
Under subdivision (a), you file a motion for certification and specify the matter you want certified. The rule works only where a statute provides for certification of the action or of a question arising in it.
How many days before the hearing must a certification motion be served?
At least ten days before the time fixed for the hearing. The rule sets both conditions together: every other party, at least ten days out.
Can the Family Court certify a question without either side asking?
Yes. Subdivision (b) recognizes certification on the court's own initiative where a statute provides for it, but the court must first give the parties an opportunity to be heard on the issue.
Do the parties get a say in how the certified question is worded?
Yes. Subdivision (b) requires the court to hear the parties on the form any certified question shall take before it certifies. That is the moment to argue over phrasing.
Does it matter whether the statute makes certification mandatory or discretionary?
Not for the hearing. Subdivision (b) applies whether the statute directs the Family Court to certify or vests the court with discretion about it.