Rule 12.Stay of Proceedings to Enforce a Judgment
Last amended February 13, 2015 · Last verified September 12, 2026
Full Text of Rule 12
Notes
REPORTER'S NOTES--2015 PERMANENT AMENDMENT: Emergency amendments to Rule 12(a) and (d) were promulgated effective July 16, 2014, to incorporate legislative amendments to those provisions enacted by Act 192 of 2013 (Adj. Sess.), § 22 (effective July 1, 2014). No comments having been received on the emergency amendments, they are now made permanent. The amendments add provisions for granting, modifying, and vacating stays of orders of involuntary medication granted by a judge of the Family Division under provisions of 18 V.S.A. amended or added by the Act. The rule amendments are identical to the legislative amendments in § 22 of the Act, except that typographical errors are corrected in Rule 12(d)(1) and (2)(A) and (B)(i), usual rule formatting is followed, and references to the subsections of Rule 4(d)(2)(B)(ii) are changed to be consistent with the usual style of the rules.
REPORTER'S NOTES--2014 EMERGENCY AMENDMENT: Emergency amendments to Rules 12(a) and (d) are adopted to incorporate legislative amendments to those provisions enacted by Act 192 of 2013 (Adj. Sess.), § 22 (effective July 1, 2014). The amendments add provisions for granting, modifying, and vacating stays of orders of involuntary medication granted by a judge of the Family Division under provisions of 18 V.S.A. amended or added by the Act. The rule amendments are identical to the legislative amendments in § 22 of the Act, except that typographical errors are corrected in Rule 12(d)(1) and (2)(A) and (B)(i), usual rule formatting is followed, and references to the subsections of Rule 4(d)(2)(B)(ii) are changed to be consistent with the usual style of the rules.
REPORTER'S NOTES--2010 AMENDMENT: Emergency amendments to V.R.F.P. 1-3, 6, and 12 intended to implement 33 V.S.A. chapters 51-53 as enacted by Act 185 of 2007 (Adj. Sess.), effective January 1, 2009, were promulgated on December 17, 2008, effective January 1, 2009, with a direction that the Advisory Committee on Family Rules report on any comments received by September 30, 2009. No comments having been received, these amendments are now made permanent.
REPORTER'S NOTES--2009 EMERGENCY AMENDMENT: Rule 12 is amended on an emergency basis to incorporate in the rule changes made necessary by the enactment of Act No. 185 of 2007 (Adj. Sess.), which repealed 33 V.S.A. chapter 55 covering juvenile proceedings and replaced it with 33 V.S.A. chapters 51-53, effective January 1, 2009. Simultaneous amendments have been made to Rules 1, 2, 3, and 6. The changes substitute references to appropriate sections of the newly enacted legislation. See Reporter's Notes to those amendments.
REPORTER'S NOTES--2000 AMENDMENT: Rules 12(a) and (d) are amended to clarify uncertainties concerning stays prior to and during an appeal in juvenile cases under Rules 1-3 and prevention of abuse actions under Rule 9, and to simplify and clarify the stay provisions generally, consistent with a 1996 amendment of V.R.C.P. 62. Rule 12(e) is abrogated because its substance is incorporated in amended Rule 12(d). Consistent with V.R.A.P. 8(a) and (c)(1), new Rule 12(a)(2)(C) makes clear that, as has long been the practice, juvenile court orders, including orders for termination of residual parental rights, are not automatically stayed pending appeal. See In re D.P., 147 Vt. 26, 32-33, 510 A.2d 967, 971 (1986). New Rule 12(d)(2)(C) incorporates the provision of V.R.A.P. 8(c)(2) preserving the jurisdiction of the Family Court to modify its orders in juvenile cases during the pendency of an appeal. Similarly, new Rules 12(a)(2)(D) and 12(d)(2)(D) clarify the situation regarding stays in prevention of abuse actions under Rule 9. Rule 12 as originally adopted provided exemptions from the automatic stay prior to and pending appeal only to certain orders in divorce actions under Rule 4 and in statutory involuntary treatment proceedings. However, V.R.C.P. 62(a), (d), exempting interlocutory orders and injunctions in civil actions from the automatic stay provisions, continued to apply to abuse prevention actions by virtue of Rule 9(a)(1). The 1983 and 1988 Reporter's Notes adding and amending former V.R.C.P. 80(m), the pre- Family Court version of Rule 9, make clear that prevention of abuse orders were viewed as analogous to interlocutory and permanent injunction orders issued under V.R.C.P. 65. By extension, the exemption provisions of V.R.C.P. 62(a), (d), were applicable to abuse prevention orders under former V.R.C.P. 80(m) and its successor, Rule 9. New Rule 12(a)(2)(D) exempts from the automatic stay prior to appeal any order under Rule 9, whether temporary and ex parte or final. The exemption also applies to Rule 9 proceedings consolidated with divorce actions under Rule 4(n). In all such proceedings, new Rule 12(d)(2) (D) makes clear that the trial court retains the power to modify or enforce any prevention from abuse order while the appeal is pending. Cf. V.R.A.P. 8(a). Rule 12(a) is also amended to make clear that “separate support” in what is now Rule 12(a)(2)(A) includes maintenance of a spouse, as provided in 15 V.S.A. § 752. Note that “separate support” includes such obligations as mortgage payments and insurance payments. Note also that in Rule 12(a)(2)(A) “parental rights and responsibilities,” as in the former rule, includes parent child contact. See 15 V.S.A. § 664(1). Under the amended rule, as previously, if an existing order for separate support is discontinued or reduced by a subsequent order, the subsequent order is not stayed in the event of an appeal “[u]nless otherwise ordered by the court.” Thus, in such a case if an appeal is taken, the party receiving support under the existing order has the burden of moving for an order staying the portion of the subsequent order that discontinues or reduces support under the existing order. Since the outcome may have serious financial consequences for the parties, the court should hold hearings on such motions. More generally, the amendments separate provisions concerning stays during the running of the appeal period from those in effect after an appeal has been taken. See Reporter's Notes to 1996 amendment of V.R.C.P. 62. By virtue of Rule 12(a)(1), the automatic stay provision of the present rule applies to all orders that are not expressly excepted in Rule 12(a)(2). In the excepted orders, the stay is not automatic but the court retains the power to grant a stay in appropriate circumstances. Even when the stay is automatic, however, as, for example, with an order to pay attorney's fees, the court may order immediate execution when appropriate under Rule 12(c). Thus, the difference between the two types of orders comes down to a question of which party has the burden of seeking relief. Under amended Rule 12(d)(1), when an appeal is taken in an action where an automatic stay was in effect during the appeal period, the automatic stay continues pending appeal, subject to the power of the Supreme Court to take appropriate action under former Rule 12(g), now Rule 12(f). In those actions where a stay prior to appeal is discretionary under Rule 12(a)(2), the Family Court retains the power to modify the terms of the judgment pending appeal under Rule 12(d)(2).
REPORTER'S NOTES: Rule 12 is adopted to place within the Family Rules themselves the rules applicable to stay pending appeal. The rule is unchanged from its source, Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 62, except that provisions not applicable to the family court have been deleted. A simultaneous amendment has been made to V.R.C.P. 62.
Amendment History
[Amended by 1997, Adj. Sess., No. 114, § 4a, eff. July 1, 1998; amended Nov. 29, 2000, eff. March 1, 2001; Dec. 17, 2008, eff. Jan. 1, 2009, made permanent Feb. 24, 2010, eff. April 26, 2010; amended by 2013, Adj. Sess., No. 192, § 22, eff. July 1, 2014; amended July 16, 2014, made permanent Dec. 11, 2014, eff. Feb. 13, 2015.]
Plain-English Summary
Winning in the family division does not always mean enforcing the next morning. For 30 days after the court enters judgment, and longer if the appellate rules stretch that deadline, no execution issues and no enforcement steps are taken. The pause gives the losing side room to appeal before anything is collected or carried out.
The exceptions cover much of family practice. Unless the judge orders otherwise, these orders bite the moment they are entered. In a divorce, annulment, or legal separation action, that means an order relating to parental rights and responsibilities and support of minor children, to separate support of a spouse including maintenance, to personal liberty, or to the dissolution of the marriage. The other exceptions stand on their own: orders for involuntary treatment, involuntary medication, nonhospitalization or hospitalization in a mental health case, every disposition order in a juvenile case including an order terminating residual parental rights, and every order for prevention of abuse under Rule 9.
Once an appeal is filed the picture splits. Where the automatic stay was already running, taking the appeal keeps it running, and no supersedeas bond or other security is required. Where no stay applies, the trial court keeps working: it may grant or deny motions to modify or enforce a divorce judgment, may extend, modify, vacate, or enforce an abuse prevention order, and keeps its authority in juvenile cases. Involuntary medication has its own track — a motion to stay filed in the Family Division stays the order while that motion is pending, and a party has seven days to ask the Supreme Court to modify or vacate the ruling.
Smaller pieces sit at the edges. Execution on a default judgment in a personal action waits until the judgment has been served on the defendant, and a motion to set aside the default stays execution until it is decided. A party who wants to collect early may move for immediate execution, but the court cannot grant it once someone represents that a party intends to appeal or to file a post-judgment motion. Attachments, and the bonds given to vacate them, ride through the stay and the appeal, then last another 60 days after a final judgment for the plaintiff and dissolve at once on a judgment for the defendant.
Frequently Asked Questions
How soon can a Vermont family court judgment be enforced?
For most judgments, not for 30 days after the court enters them, and longer if the time to appeal has been extended. Until that period runs, no execution issues and no enforcement steps are taken. The wait is automatic, so neither side has to ask for it.
Several kinds of orders are carved out of that wait and take effect on entry unless the judge says otherwise, so read the list before you assume enforcement is on hold.
Does an appeal stop an order about parental rights and responsibilities or support?
No. Orders on parental rights and responsibilities and on support of minor children, along with orders for separate support of a spouse including maintenance, sit outside the automatic stay. They are enforceable when entered and remain enforceable while the appeal is pending.
The judge can order otherwise. If you want such an order held up, file a motion and explain why, because nothing stops the order from running until the court says so.
Is an abuse prevention order stayed while the other side appeals?
No. Every order in an action for prevention of abuse falls outside the automatic stay, including an order entered in a case consolidated with a proceeding for divorce or annulment. The protection stays in force during the appeal.
The trial court also keeps jurisdiction while the appeal is pending, so it can extend, modify, vacate, or enforce the order instead of everyone waiting on the Supreme Court.
Can I ask the court to let me enforce a judgment right away?
Yes. You can move for immediate execution, and the court may grant it for cause on whatever conditions it thinks proper. The door closes if a representation is made that a party intends to appeal or to file a post-judgment motion, because then no such order may issue.
If your motion is denied, you can still ask the court, on a showing of good cause, to order the other side to post a bond covering damages for delay, interest, and costs should the appeal never happen, get dismissed, or end in affirmance.
What happens to an involuntary medication order when it is appealed?
The appealing party may file a motion in the Family Division to stay the order, and filing that motion stays the medication order while the motion is pending.
A party then has seven days after the ruling to ask the Supreme Court to modify or vacate it. A single Justice decides that motion, may refer it to the entire Court for hearing, and no further appeal lies from the single Justice's ruling. If the appellant is the moving party, the medication order stays on hold until the Supreme Court rules.