Appellate Procedure--Trial Court Jurisdiction After Notice of Appeal

In this dissolution action the court signed a minute entry concerning the disposition of property. One of the parties filed a motion to amend the order but before the trial court could act the other party filed a notice of appeal from the order. The Court of Appeals ruled it lacked jurisdiction over the appeal because the notice of appeal was premature--should not have been filed until after the court had ruled upon the motion to amend. The appellant then had the trial court sign a new order denying the motion to amend and filed a notice of appeal from that order. However, the court of appeals mandate from the order denying jurisdiction did not issue until three months after the second notice of appeal. Hence the second notice of appeal was also a nullity.

"Thus, the filing of a notice of appeal, even one ultimately determined to be a nullity, divests the trial court of jurisdiction to proceed other than to issue orders in furtherance of the appeal and to address matters unrelated to the appeal. And an appellate proceeding, including one in which an appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction, does not terminate until the appellate court's mandate issues."