OLSEN VS. OLSEN (CHILD CUSTODY)

Key holdings

Practitioner summary

The court dismissed the appeal under NRAP 3(a)(2) for failure to comply with filing requirements. The appeal was docketed November 20, 2023, without payment of the filing fee required by NRAP 3(e). The clerk's notice issued that same day required the appellant either to pay the fee or to demonstrate compliance with NRAP 24 within seven days, on pain of dismissal. The appellant neither paid nor responded, and the court dismissed accordingly. The order is a clerk's order and contains no merits analysis.

In plain language

When someone files an appeal with the Nevada Supreme Court, they normally have to pay a filing fee. If they cannot afford it, they can ask the court for permission to proceed without paying by following a specific rule (NRAP 24, which governs in forma pauperis applications - a request to waive fees based on inability to pay). In this case, John Olsen filed an appeal involving a child custody matter but did not pay the filing fee when the appeal was docketed. The court sent him a notice the same day telling him he had seven days to either pay or properly request a fee waiver, and warning that if he did neither, the appeal would be dismissed. He did not respond and did not pay. Because of that, the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed the appeal without reaching any of the substantive issues in the underlying child custody dispute. The order does not address the merits of the custody case.