Rule 3:23.Use of and Proceedings Before a Commissioner in Chancery.

A commissioner in chancery is not a routine feature of Virginia circuit court practice — this rule limits when one can be appointed. Even in uncontested divorce cases, a commissioner may be named only if the parties agree and the court concurs, or if a party or the court moves for the appointment and the court makes a finding of good cause in that specific case.

Once the court enters a decree of reference, the clerk mails or delivers a copy to the commissioner, who then has to promptly set a time and place for the parties’ first meeting and notify them or their attorneys. From there, the commissioner is obligated to proceed with reasonable diligence in executing the decree of reference.

The commissioner’s authority at that meeting runs wide. A commissioner can require production of evidence bearing on anything the decree of reference covers, including books, papers, vouchers, documents, and writings, and can call witnesses or the parties themselves to testify under oath. The commissioner rules on the admissibility of evidence unless the decree of reference says otherwise, but if a party asks, the commissioner has to make a record of any proffered evidence that gets excluded as inadmissible.

At the end of the process, the commissioner prepares a written report stating findings of fact and conclusions of law on the matters the decree of reference submitted, and files that report — along with the admitted exhibits and a transcript of the proceedings and testimony — with the clerk of court. In an Electronically Filed Case, that filing follows Rule 1:17. The commissioner then mails or delivers written notice of the filing to counsel of record and to any unrepresented parties, using the last address on record; in divorce cases, a copy of the report itself has to go out with that notice. Parties who never appeared in the proceeding don’t get either the notice or the report.