Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Alimony

A general magistrate is a judicial officer who holds a hearing and enters a recommended order which is ratified by the judge unless either party objects to the recommended order. If there is an objection, the judge must hold a hearing to determine if the objection is valid. This was an issue in the case Edmonds v. Edmonds, 6D23-97 (Fla. 6th DCA February 17, 2023).

The general magistrate held a hearing and determined the former wife was entitled to durational alimony of $1,500.00 per month for five years. The former husband argued income should be imputed to the former wife above her actual earnings, but the general magistrate rejected this argument. Both parties filed timely exceptions to the general magistrate’s recommended order. The trial judge determined the general magistrate was correct in finding the former wife was not underemployed. However, the judge remanded the proceedings back to the general magistrate to make findings that supported the $1,500 per month award. The general magistrate then entered a supplemental report which included findings as to the former wife’s need and her income. Although both parties filed timely exceptions to this report, the judge entered an order on the supplemental report which required the former husband to pay more than double the originally-ordered amount. The former husband filed an appeal.

On appeal the former husband argued the trial court erred in refusing to impute income to the former wife. This argument was rejected by the appellate court. However, the appellate court reversed as to the trial court’s failure to hold a hearing on the parties’ exceptions on the supplemental report. It held “[W]here a party timely files exceptions to a magistrate’s report, it is reversible error for a trial court to fail to conduct a hearing on the exceptions before entering an order on the report. See Gutierrez v. Gutierrez, 48 So. 3d 118, 119 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010).”

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