Section 24.38 Orders and Judgments Entered by Family Court Commissioners

• Library: Family Law Deskbook and 2014 Supp

IX. (§24.38) Orders and Judgments Entered by Family Court Commissioners

To expedite family court dockets across the state, § 487.030.1, RSMo Supp. 1996, provided in family law cases that:

findings and recommendations of the commissioner shall become the judgment of the court when entered by the commissioner. Notice of the findings of the commissioner, together with a statement relative to the right to file a motion for rehearing, shall be given to the parties whose case has been heard by the commissioner . . . .

This statute was viewed as obviating the necessity for a judge’s signature and allowing the immediate enforcement of a commissioner’s order. The Supreme Court, in Slay v. Slay, 965 S.W.2d 845 (Mo. banc 1998), placed § 487.030 into constitutional jeopardy when it dismissed as not final and appealable a judgment entered by a family court commissioner because it was not signed by an Article V judge. The Court held that commissioners do not have the authority to enter a final appealable “judgment” within the meaning of Rule 74.01(a). In its opinion, the Court stated that the Missouri Constitution provides for only five classes of judges:

Supreme Court of Missouri judges

Missouri court of appeals judges

Circuit judges

Associate circuit judges

Municipal court judges

See Mo. Const. art. V, §§ 21 and 23.

Slay called into question the validity of a “judgment” entered by a commissioner and thus a party’s ability to enforce it. But the question was partially resolved shortly after Slay by the decision in State ex rel. York v. Daugherty, 969 S.W.2d 223 (Mo. banc 1998), in which the Court found that, if the parties...