LEWIS VS. LEWIS (CHILD CUSTODY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

This is a pro se appeal from a post-decree order denying modification of child custody. After docketing, the court issued a July 22, 2025 notice setting deadlines for the transcript request form or certificate of no request (14 days), the docketing statement (21 days), and the fast track opening brief (60 days). Following noncompliance, the court issued an August 29, 2025 order directing compliance within 14 days and warning that noncompliance could result in dismissal, citing NRAP 3E(1) and NRAP 14(c). Appellant filed none of the required documents, did not file the fast track opening brief due September 22, 2025, and did not communicate with the court. Treating the appeal as abandoned, the court dismissed it.

In plain language

Sarina Lewis and John Lewis previously divorced under a stipulated (agreed-upon) decree that included child custody terms. Sarina later asked the trial court to change the custody arrangement, and the trial judge denied that request. Sarina, representing herself without an attorney, appealed that denial to the Nevada Supreme Court. When someone appeals, the Supreme Court requires certain paperwork on a schedule - including a form telling the court whether transcripts of the lower-court proceedings will be ordered, a "docketing statement" describing the case, and an opening brief explaining why the lower court got it wrong. The Supreme Court told Sarina on July 22, 2025, what was due and when. When she missed those deadlines, the court gave her a second chance on August 29, 2025, with a warning that missing the new deadlines could end her appeal. She did not file the transcript request form, the docketing statement, or the opening brief, and she did not otherwise contact the court. Concluding that she had abandoned the appeal, the Supreme Court dismissed it. The dismissal does not address the merits of the underlying custody dispute; it ends this particular appeal because the procedural requirements were not met.