Attorney Dennis Temko

At Dennis Temko, we are a team of dedicated professionals who specialize in providing exceptional representation in appellate matters in California State Courts. Our practice is focused on family law matters, including custody, property division, child and spousal support, stock options, high income earners, Ostler Smith (bonus support orders), domestic violence restraining orders, and imputation, among other issues.

Our team is led by attorney Dennis Temko, who has been recognized as a "Rising Star" from 2017 to 2024 by Super Lawyers, a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. Since his 2013 admission to the California State Bar, most of his practice has been devoted to family law appeals and writs.

Our Services

Attorney Dennis Temko handles appellate family law matters. Appellate matters are cases attorneys have already litigated in the trial court and one party has decided to appeal the trial court's decision. We represent both appellants and respondents. For those cases where we represent the appellant, we will prepare an opening brief and reply brief. Where we represent a respondent, we will prepare a respondent's brief. In either case, if requested by the client, we will also argue the case at oral argument.

Appellate matters are a specialized area of law. The rules that apply to a case on appeal are much different from the rules that apply in the trial court. Only a trained practitioner is aware of these rules and can use them to the client's benefit. In many cases, a trial attorney will refer a case to an appellate attorney since they are generally unfamiliar with appellate rules.

The Appellate World

Appellate courts are different from trial courts. The rules are different. The process is different. The goals are different. As the appellate courts' missions differs from that of trial courts, so do the skills required of appellate practitioners differ from those demanded of trial lawyers. The ability of trail attorneys to "think on their feet" and to relate interpersonally with witnesses, jurors and opposing counsel has little in common with the skill of appellate attorneys in combing trial records for error, construing well-honed written legal arguments, and following the sometimes arcane rules and protocol.

News & Publications

05-23-19 Appellate Attorney Dennis Temko Takes Family Law Appeal Reversals to a New Height

"Reversals are hard to obtain -- even one is a cause for celebration, " said attorney Dennis Temko, who was recognized by Super Lawyers Magazine as a rising star in 2017, 2018 and 2019. A reversal is a decision by the Court of Appeal ruling that the judgment of a lower court was incorrect.