Understanding the supreme court's important new rule on custody appeals

Do any divorce work? If so, take note: you can now appeal a custody judgment before the rest of the case is final. You no longer have to wait for all the other issues (e.g., property allocation) to be resolved before doing so. Once you appeal -- or if you don't appeal and the deadline for filing one passes -- the custody judgment is no longer subject to modification. It's locked in. That brings stability, which is good for kids. But it also means you'd better be on your toes.  As first district Justice Mary Jane Theis told Helen Gunnarsson in the April Illinois Bar Journal, when you get a custody judgment from the trial court "you must appeal within 30 days or you will lose your right to appeal forever." The stakes are higher than ever, in other words. That's why family-law practitioners would do well to read the tandem articles in the most recent ISBA Family Law newsletter by Justice Theis and Cook County trial Judge Edward R. Jordan, which discuss the implications of this and related aspects of the supreme court's rule change (it took effect last February 26).  Read their articles.