How Long Does an Appeal Take in New York: Stages and Delays

A civil appeal in New York typically takes 12 to 18 months in the Appellate Division, measured from the notice of appeal to a written decision. If the case continues to the Court of Appeals, expect roughly two years or more from start to finish. How long an appeal takes in New York depends on how quickly the record and transcript come together, how many extensions the parties request, the department’s caseload, and the complexity of the legal questions.

The Timeline Stage by Stage

An appeal moves through four stages, and each has its own clock. Adding them up gives you a realistic estimate for your own case.

Notice of Appeal: 30 Days

The first deadline is the strictest. In civil cases, the notice of appeal must be filed within 30 days after a party serves you with a copy of the judgment or order together with written notice that it has been entered.¹ Criminal appeals run on the same 30-day clock, starting from the date of sentencing or entry of the order.² Miss it and the right to appeal is gone. There is no grace period.

One quirk buys some flexibility: the 30 days do not begin when the clerk enters the judgment. They begin when the opposing party actually serves you with notice of entry. If neither side serves the other, the deadline stays open, though relying on that is a gamble most attorneys refuse to take.

Perfecting the Appeal: Six Months

Filing the notice does not put your case before appellate judges. You then have to “perfect” the appeal by assembling the record and filing your opening brief, and that has to happen within six months of the notice of appeal.³ Blow this deadline and your appeal is automatically dismissed without any further order from the court.⁴

Six months sounds like plenty, but the transcript often eats most of it. If your case went to trial, court reporters produce the transcript at a per-page rate, and a multi-week trial can generate thousands of pages. Weeks pass before the attorney even has the transcript in hand to start drafting.

Extensions are common and are one of the main reasons appeals stretch past a year. The parties can stipulate to an extra 60 days. The appellant can then apply by letter for another 30 days. Anything beyond 90 additional days requires a formal motion.⁵

Response and Reply Briefs: Two to Four Months

Once the appellant perfects, the respondent has 30 days to file a brief defending the trial court’s ruling. The appellant then has 10 days to file a reply.³ Those numbers rarely hold in practice. Extensions of 30 or 60 days are routine, and both sides usually ask for at least one. Two to four months for the full briefing phase is a fair estimate. The First Judicial Department, covering Manhattan and the Bronx, runs on its own published terms schedule, so timelines there can vary from the statewide defaults.

Oral Argument and Decision

After briefing closes, the court schedules argument. Not every case gets one; the panel can decide on the papers alone if it concludes argument would not help. The wait between completing briefs and getting an argument date varies by department. The First and Second Departments, covering New York City and its suburbs, carry heavier dockets than the Third and Fourth Departments upstate.

Once the case is submitted, there is no fixed deadline for the decision. Straightforward cases produce written opinions within weeks. Complex appeals, especially those that split the panel, take longer.

What Pushes Appeals Past 18 Months

The 12-to-18-month range assumes a case that moves at a normal pace. Several things routinely push cases past that.

A long trial transcript that takes months to produce and pay for.
Multiple stipulated extensions during perfection and briefing.
Voluminous records requiring motions over what belongs in them.
Complex legal questions or split appellate panels that slow deliberation.
Heavier dockets in the First and Second Departments compared with the Third and Fourth.

The Appellate Division reviews both questions of law and questions of fact, so the panel can reweigh whether the evidence supported the trial court’s result, not just whether the law was applied correctly.⁶ That broader scope of review is part of what makes New York appeals take as long as they do.

Court of Appeals: Add Six to Twelve Months

The Court of Appeals is New York’s highest court, and getting there is a separate process with its own timeline. Most civil cases require permission (called “leave”) to appeal. A motion for leave must be filed within 30 days of service of the Appellate Division order with notice of entry.¹ The court grants leave selectively, taking only cases that raise significant legal questions.⁷

If leave is granted, the case goes through another round of briefing and argument. After oral argument, the Court of Appeals typically issues a decision within 30 to 60 days.⁸ From the Appellate Division decision through the leave application, briefing, argument, and final ruling, expect another six to twelve months. Someone appealing from the trial court all the way to the Court of Appeals should plan on two years or more.

Criminal Appeals Run Longer

Criminal appeals follow their own track. The 30-day notice deadline still applies, running from sentencing. A defendant convicted after trial has an appeal as of right to the Appellate Division. A defendant who pleaded guilty generally has to seek leave, with a separate application due within 30 days.²

Criminal appeals usually take at least as long as civil ones and often longer. Assigned counsel has to be appointed for indigent defendants, the entire trial transcript has to be prepared, and briefing runs on its own schedule. Eighteen months to two years in the Appellate Division is common, and cases that reach the Court of Appeals take longer still.

When You Can Ask the Court to Move Faster

New York allows the appellate court to grant a preference in scheduling, which can shorten the wait considerably. In most cases the preference is discretionary, so the appellant has to convince the court that the appeal deserves to move ahead of others.⁹ Arguments courts tend to accept include a party’s advanced age and poor health, pending loss of a business or professional license, and ongoing irreparable harm that cannot wait for the normal calendar.

Some family court appeals get preference automatically, without any motion. Those include appeals from child protective proceedings, custody, adoption, and juvenile delinquency cases.⁹

The Decision Is Not Always the End

A written decision does not always close out the case. If the appellate court reverses or modifies the ruling, it often sends the matter back to the trial court for further proceedings, which can mean a new trial or a recalculation of damages. Even after a decision, the losing party can seek reargument, ask for leave to appeal to the Court of Appeals, or request a stay while pursuing further review. Each step adds weeks or months before anyone can act on the ruling, and a case that seemed to be winding down can stretch well past the two-year mark before it truly ends.

1
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 5513 – Time to Take Appeal, Cross-Appeal or Move for Permission to Appeal
2
New York State Senate. New York Criminal Procedure Law 460.10 – Appeal
3
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 1250.9 – Time, Number and Manner of Filing of Records, Appendices and Briefs
4
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 22 NYCRR 1250.10 – Dismissal of Abandoned Appeals or Transferred Proceedings
5
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 22 NYCRR 1250.9 – Extension of Time to Perfect Appeal
6
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 5501 – Scope of Review
7
New York State Unified Court System. Civil Motions Frequently Asked Questions
8
New York State Unified Court System. Guide for Counsel
9
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law R5521 – Preferences