Schrader

DISCUSSION

Appealability Mother appeals the final statement of decision filed in July of 2023. “The general rule is that a statement or memorandum of decision is not appealable. [Citations.] The rule’s practical justification is that courts typically embody their final rulings not in statements of decision but in orders or judgments. Reviewing courts have discretion to treat statements of decision as appealable when they must, as when a statement of decision is signed and filed and does, in fact, constitute the court’s final decision on the merits.” (Alan v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. (2007) 40 Cal.4th 894, 901.)

3 We exercise our discretion to entertain the merits of Mother’s appeal. The family court incorporated the final statement of decision into its “Findings and Order after Hearing” filed on October 23, 2023.2 We construe the appeal as taken from this order, which resolved the custody and support issues reserved in the judgment of dissolution entered in August of 2020. (See Champlin/GEI Wind Holdings, LLC v. Avery (2023) 92 Cal.App.5th 218, 223 [appellate court may consider premature appeal when “judgment [is] actually entered and respondent has not been misled to its…