Rule 377.Procedure on a Motion to Correct Clerical Mistakes, Motion for Review, or Combined Motion

Rule 377 is the procedural rulebook for three specific requests: a motion to correct clerical mistakes, a motion for review, and a combined motion raising both at once. It also closes off nearly every other route to challenge a child support magistrate’s decision — the ordinary post-trial motions and statutory relief available in general civil cases do not apply here. Only these motions, or a motion alleging fraud, survive.

Getting the timing right matters. A party who wants only to fix a clerical mistake must act as soon as practicable after finding the error, with no fixed cutoff. A party bringing a motion for review or a combined motion has 21 days from the date the court administrator serves the notice required by Rule 365.04. The other side then has its own clock: 14 days to respond to a motion to correct clerical mistakes, 28 days to respond to a motion for review or combined motion, and 40 days to respond to a counter motion raised in that response. Every one of those windows grows by 3 days when the triggering notice or motion is served by mail. For a motion for review, combined motion, or counter motion, the deadline to respond grows by another 3 days if that motion or counter motion was itself also served by mail.

Each motion and response must follow a specific script: complete the right form, serve it on every other party and the county agency, file the original with the court, file proof of service, and order a transcript if the party wants one considered. The content matters as much as the paperwork: a motion for review or combined motion must state why review is sought, the specific change wanted, the evidence or law behind it, whether the magistrate or a district judge should decide, and whether the party wants new evidence or a new hearing, while a motion to correct clerical mistakes need only point out the mistake and the correct language. A response has to address those same points, or, on a motion to correct clerical mistakes, state only whether the responding party agrees or disagrees with the correction proposed. A motion for review or combined motion also requires paying the filing fee up front. Once the record closes, the child support magistrate or district court judge has 30 days to decide, reviewing any specifically challenged findings independently instead of deferring to what came before, though the judge or magistrate can affirm without writing new findings when none are needed. The rule spells out exactly which events close the record and what the decision may look like — an outright affirmance, a modification, or, on a motion for review, an order sending the matter to a hearing.

Nothing about this process pauses the existing order — the decision and order stays in full force while a motion is pending unless a new order changes it. Not every motion gets a hearing, either; the child support magistrate or district court judge can call one without being asked, but a party who wants one must first show good cause, and each side is generally limited to the existing record unless the deciding official asks for more. Once the motion is decided, the court administrator has 7 days to serve every party with notice of the order or judgment, and that notice is what starts the clock to appeal under Rule 378. The resulting order is effective and final as soon as it is signed.