Rule 3.913.Referees

MCR 3.913 is the companion to the judge rule. Where MCR 3.912(A) lists what a referee may never do, this rule describes what a referee may do, who has to be a lawyer to do it, and what a referee must say before the parties leave the room.

What a referee may be assigned

Subrule (A)(1) states the general grant. Subject to the limits in subrule (A)(2), the court may assign a referee to conduct a preliminary inquiry or to preside at a hearing other than those specified in MCR 3.912(A), and to make recommended findings and conclusions. The output is a recommendation, not a judgment, and that distinction runs through the rest of the rule.

When the referee must be a lawyer

Subrule (A)(2) is the heart of the rule. It sets an attorney requirement in four settings and then carves out the early or routine hearings a nonattorney referee may still handle:

• Delinquency proceedings, under subrule (A)(2)(a): except as otherwise provided by MCL 712A.10, only a person licensed to practice law in Michigan may serve as referee at a delinquency proceeding other than a preliminary inquiry or preliminary hearing, if the juvenile is before the court under MCL 712A.2(a)(1).
• Child protective proceedings, under subrule (A)(2)(b): a licensed attorney is required except at a preliminary inquiry, a preliminary hearing, a progress review under MCR 3.974(A) or (B), or an emergency removal hearing under MCR 3.974(C). Either an attorney or a nonattorney referee may issue an ex parte placement order under MCR 3.963(B).
• Designated cases, under subrule (A)(2)(c): only a licensed referee may preside at a hearing to designate a case or to amend a petition to designate a case and make recommended findings and conclusions.
• Minor personal protection actions, under subrule (A)(2)(d): a nonattorney referee may preside at a preliminary hearing for enforcement of a minor personal protection order, but any other enforcement hearing requires a licensed referee.

The pattern is consistent. Screening and emergency steps are open to nonattorney referees; the hearings that decide something durable are not.

How long the assignment lasts

Subrule (B) lets an assignment run to the end of the case. Unless a party has demanded trial by jury or by a judge under MCR 3.911 or 3.912, a referee may conduct the trial and further proceedings through disposition. A demand under either of those rules is what cuts the assignment short.

Advice the referee must give

Subrule (C)(1) requires the referee, during a hearing, to inform the parties of the right to file a request for review of the referee's recommended findings and conclusions as provided in MCR 3.991(B). Subrule (C)(2) adds a second duty at the close of a hearing described in MCR 3.937(A): advice of appellate rights in accordance with MCR 3.937, together with a statement that those appellate rights do not attach until the judge enters an order described in MCR 3.993(A). The two pieces of advice fit the recommendation structure — review comes first, and an appeal waits for a judge's order.