§ 8-10-3.1 - Magistrates – Appointment, duties, and powers.
SECTION 8-10-3.1
§ 8-10-3.1 Magistrates – Appointment,duties, and powers. – (a) The chief judge of the family court may appoint magistrates, with theadvice and consent of the senate, to assist the court in the conduct of itsbusiness. A person appointed to serve as a magistrate shall be a member of thebar of Rhode Island. The powers and duties of magistrates shall be prescribedin the order appointing them.
(b) In addition, magistrates may assist the court in:
(1) the enforcement and implementation of chapter 23.1 oftitle 15,
(2) the determination of matters that come before the courtpursuant to § 8-10-4, chapter 1 of title 14, chapters 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and16 of title 15, chapter 19 of title 16, chapter 11 of title 40, and chapter 5of title 40.1.
Magistrates shall be empowered to hear and determine allmotions, pretrial conferences, arraignments of juvenile offenders, probablecause hearings, and review of all such matters, including but not limited to,the temporary placement, custody, disposition and adoption of children, ordersof support, final divorce decrees, and the taking of testimony in conductingall hearings relative thereto subject to the review provided for in subsection(d).
(c) The magistrates shall serve a term of ten (10) years anduntil a successor is appointed and qualified and his or her powers and dutiesshall be prescribed in the order appointing him or her or in the rules ofprocedure of the family court. Any magistrate in service as of January 1, 2008who serves at the pleasure of the chief judge of the family court may beappointed for a term of ten (10) years with the advice and consent of thesenate and until a successor is appointed and qualified. Nothing herein shallbe construed to prohibit the assignment of a magistrate to more than one suchterm, subject to the advice and consent of the senate. The magistrates may beauthorized:
(1) To regulate all proceedings before him or her;
(2) To do all acts and take all measures necessary or properfor the efficient performance of his or her duties;
(3) To require the production before him or her of books,papers, vouchers, documents, and writings;
(4) To rule upon the admissibility of evidence;
(5) To issue subpoenas for the appearance of witnesses, toput witnesses on oath, to examine them, and to call parties to the proceedingand examine them upon oath;
(6) To adjudicate a person in contempt and to order him orher imprisoned for not more than seventy-two (72) hours, pending review by ajustice of the court, for failure to appear in response to a summons or forrefusal to answer questions or produce evidence or for behavior disrupting aproceeding;
(7) To adjudicate a party in contempt and to order him or herimprisoned for not more than seventy-two (72) hours, pending review by ajustice of the court, for failure to comply with a pending order to providesupport or to perform any other act; and
(8) To issue a capias and/or body attachment upon the failureof a party or witness to appear after having been properly served and, shouldthe family court not be in session, the person apprehended may be detained atthe adult correctional institution, if an adult, or at the Rhode Islandtraining school for youth, if a child, until the next session of the familycourt.
(d) A party aggrieved by an order entered by a magistrateshall be entitled to a review of the order by a justice of the family court.Unless otherwise provided in the rules of procedure of the family court, suchreview shall be on the record and appellate in nature. The family court shallby rules of procedure establish procedures for review of orders entered by amagistrate, and for enforcement of contempt adjudications of a magistrate.
(e) Final orders of the family court entered in a proceedingto review an order of a magistrate may be appealed to the supreme court.
(f) The magistrates shall be empowered to hear de novo allapplications for income withholding pursuant to chapter 16 of title 15 andappeals of administrative agency orders of the department of human services towithhold income under chapter 16 of title 15.
(g) The magistrates shall be empowered to hear all mattersrelating to the revocation or nonrenewal of a license of an obligor due tonon-compliance with a court order of support, in accordance with chapter 11.1of title 15.
(h) The magistrates may be authorized by the chief judge tohear those matters on the domestic abuse prevention calendar and the nominalcalendar.
[See § 12-1-15 of the General Laws.]