The Supreme Court has published its 2015 Omnibus Rule Amendment Order, which is available here. That Order contains amendments to several dozen Court Rules and appendices, and also adds new rule provisions. All of the new or amended rules are effective on September 1, 2015.
Though changes to any Court Rule may affect appeals and appellate practitioners and should be reviewed, the only change to a rule governing appeals is in Rule 2:9-1, which is titled “Control by Appellate Court of Proceedings Pending Appeal or Certification.” In general, that rule addresses when and to what extent a trial level court retains jurisdiction to take certain actions, such as enforcing its own judgments, while an appeal is pending. The amendment to that rule adds the following two sentences:
“When an appeal is taken from an order involving a child who has been placed in care by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency, the trial court shall retain jurisdiction to conduct summary hearings in due course to address issues not the subject of the appeal relating to the child or the child’s family. Unless the appeal concerns the permanency plan of the child, the trial court also shall retain jurisdiction to conduct hearings to address the permanency plan of the child.”