You lost in the trial court, you have already decided to appeal, and now you are staring at an order that says you owe money or have to do something you do not want to do. The obvious question is whether filing the appeal puts all of that on hold. For most people the answer is the one they do not want to hear. In Indiana, filing a notice of appeal does not automatically stop enforcement of an order during appeal. An appeal does not stay the effect or enforceability of a trial court’s judgment or order unless the trial court, the administrative agency, or the court hearing the appeal orders it (Indiana Appellate Rule 39(A)). So unless you take a separate, deliberate step to ask for what is called a stay, the order stays fully in force while your appeal works its way through the system, and that process can run a few months but can stretch to more than a year depending on a lot of different factors.
This post walks through how stays work in Indiana, where you ask for one, when a bond comes into the picture, and what happens if you do nothing. It applies mostly to civil matters, where enforcement of money judgments is the usual concern.
What a stay is and why filing an appeal alone does not give you one
A stay is a court order that pauses enforcement of the underlying ruling while the appeal is pending. Without one, the winning side can start collecting or enforcing right away. Under Indiana Trial Rule 62(A), execution may issue once the judgment is noted in the Chronological Case Summary, which is the running docket the court keeps for every case. That is why getting a stay is often the first thing on the to-do list for someone who just lost and intends to appeal. The appeal protects your right to argue the case was decided wrong. The stay is what keeps the other side from acting on the judgment in the meantime.
People sometimes assume the two go together automatically. They do not. You can have a perfectly valid, properly filed appeal and still be fully obligated to comply with the order you are appealing. If you want enforcement paused, you have to ask for it separately and persuade a judge to grant it. If you are still deciding whether an appeal makes sense in the first place, it helps to understand how appeals work in Indiana before you get into the mechanics of pausing enforcement.
Where you ask: the trial court comes first
Indiana gives you two possible courts to ask, but the order matters. You start in the trial court, the same court that just ruled against you. Under Trial Rule 62(B), the trial court may, in its discretion and on conditions for the security of the other side that are proper, stay execution or any proceedings to enforce a judgment while an appeal is pending. Discretion is the operative word. The judge who just decided the case against you is not required to pause enforcement, so you have to give the court a real reason to do it. A motion that just says “I am appealing, please hold off” is not going to carry much weight on its own. A strong motion explains your situation and proposes terms that protect the other party while the appeal plays out.
If the trial court turns you down, you can take it up a level, but generally not before you have asked below. Under Appellate Rule 39(B), a motion for a stay pending appeal generally cannot be filed in the court hearing the appeal unless a stay was first filed and denied by the trial court. In other words, you do not get to skip the trial court and go straight to the Court of Appeals. If you do end up asking the higher court, Appellate Rule 39(C) requires you to attach certified or verified copies of the judgment or order to be stayed and the order denying your stay, along with a showing of either that the trial court failed to rule within a reasonable time given the circumstances or that extraordinary circumstances excuse not having asked the trial court at all. This two-step structure is one reason the timing of these requests tends to move quickly, and it is closely tied to the broader question of how interlocutory appeals work when you are trying to challenge an order before the whole case is finished.
When a bond enters the picture
If the order against you is a money judgment, asking for a stay usually means dealing with a bond. The logic is straightforward. The person who won is entitled to collect. If enforcement gets paused and you eventually lose the appeal anyway, the winner has waited months or longer for money they were owed the whole time. A bond protects them against that delay. Under Trial Rule 62(D)(1), enforcement of a judgment or appealable interlocutory order is suspended during an appeal upon the giving of an adequate appeal bond with approved sureties, an irrevocable letter of credit from a court-approved financial institution, or another form of security the court approves. The security can be given at or after the time you file the notice of appeal, and the stay is effective once the court approves it. Appellate Rule 18 sets out the same basic mechanism at the appellate level.
The bond is not a token amount. Under Trial Rule 62(D)(2), when the judgment is for money not otherwise secured, the bond is generally fixed at a sum that covers the whole amount of the judgment remaining unsatisfied, plus costs on appeal, interest, and damages for delay. That can be a substantial figure, and for some people the cost of securing a bond is itself a reason to think hard about whether a stay is worth pursuing. The amount is not entirely rigid, though. The same subsection allows the court, after notice and hearing and for good cause shown, to fix a different amount or order security other than a bond or letter of credit. So there is room to ask the court to set a different number, which is exactly the kind of thing worth putting effort into rather than accepting the first figure proposed.
Not every order is a money judgment, and that changes the analysis. When an appeal is taken from an order granting, dissolving, or denying an injunction, appointing a receiver, or otherwise ordering specific relief other than the payment of money, Trial Rule 62(C) gives the court discretion to suspend, modify, restore, or grant that relief during the appeal on whatever terms it considers proper to protect the other side. These orders are governed by a different part of the rule than money judgments, so the security picture looks different.
What happens if you do nothing
If you do not ask for a stay, or you ask and lose, the order is live and you are expected to follow it. Ignoring it is not a neutral choice. The order you are appealing remains valid while the appeal is pending, and a court has tools to enforce its orders, including treating a failure to comply as contempt. Being right on appeal later does not retroactively erase the consequences of having defied a valid order in the meantime. That is the trap people fall into when they assume the appeal froze everything. It did not.
This is also where the value of moving quickly and getting the motion right shows up. The attorneys at Fugate Gangstad Lowe each bring more than a decade of experience to this kind of work, and the goal in every case is to get the client the best result possible without wasting time or money chasing weak arguments. A stay request is a chance to make a focused, well-supported ask to a judge who is not required to grant it, and the quality and timing of that request matter. If you are weighing whether an appeal and a stay are worth the effort, it is also worth understanding what an appeal costs and how long it takes so you can plan around the timeline rather than be surprised by it.
Frequently asked questions about stopping enforcement during an appeal
Does filing an appeal stop a court order in Indiana?
No. Under Appellate Rule 39(A), an appeal does not stay the effect or enforceability of a judgment or order unless a court orders it. The order stays in effect unless you obtain a separate stay.
How do I stop a judgment from being enforced while I appeal?
You file a motion asking the trial court to stay enforcement under Trial Rule 62. If the trial court denies it, you may then ask the court hearing the appeal under Appellate Rule 39.
Do I have to post a bond to stop enforcement during an appeal?
For a money judgment, usually yes. Under Trial Rule 62(D), the bond generally has to cover the full unsatisfied judgment plus costs, interest, and damages for delay, though the court may fix a different amount for good cause after notice and a hearing.
Can I ask the Court of Appeals for a stay if the trial court says no?
Generally only after you have asked the trial court first and been denied. Appellate Rule 39(B) provides that a stay motion generally may not be filed in the court on appeal unless one was first filed and denied below.
What happens if I ignore a court order while my appeal is pending?
The order remains valid during the appeal, so non-compliance can carry consequences, including contempt. Filing an appeal does not excuse you from following the order unless a court has granted a stay.
How long does a stay last?
Under Appellate Rule 39(F), unless the court orders otherwise, a stay granted by the court on appeal remains in effect until the appeal is disposed of.
Talk to us before the order is enforced against you
If a trial court in Marion, Hamilton, Boone, Hendricks, or one of the surrounding central Indiana counties has entered an order against you and you want to stop enforcement during your appeal, the time to act is now, not after collection or enforcement has already started. We can look at whether a stay is realistic in your situation, what a bond might cost, and whether the trial court or the Court of Appeals is the right place to ask. Call Fugate Gangstad Lowe at 317-829-6797 or reach us through our contact form to talk through your options.
Fugate Gangstad Lowe represents clients in Indiana appeals, including criminal appeals, civil appeals, family law appeals, commercial appeals, probate appeals, petitions to transfer to the Indiana Supreme Court, and other post-judgment matters. Anne Medlin Lowe handles the firm’s appellate work and gives each case direct attorney attention from the first record review through final briefing and filing. A former judicial law clerk to Judge Paul D. Mathias of the Indiana Court of Appeals, Anne has worked on more than 150 appeals and brings a practical understanding of how appellate judges evaluate records, waiver, harmless error, standards of review, procedural issues, and written advocacy. A strong appeal starts long before the brief is written. Anne helps clients and trial counsel evaluate the record, identify appealable issues, avoid weak arguments that distract from stronger ones, and present the case in a way that is clear, accurate, and useful to the Court. If you have lost in the trial court and are deciding what comes next, it can help to start by finding the right appeals attorney in Indianapolis. If you are considering an appeal, contact us for a free initial consultation to help you understand your options.
The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Reading this article does not create an attorney-client relationship. For legal advice tailored to your situation, please contact our firm directly.