Rule 53.2.Court commissioners

Group 6: Trials · Not amended since adoption on record · Last verified July 13, 2026

In one sentenceRule 53.2 identifies five topics governing court commissioners — appointment and qualifications, oath, salary, powers and fees, and revision of a commissioner's rulings by the court — and for each one points to the RCW section that supplies the governing law.

Full Text of Rule 53.2

Text sizeJump to: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e)

(a) Appointment of court commissioners — Qualifications — Term of office. [Reserved. See RCW 2.24.010.]

(b) Oath. [Reserved. See RCW 2.24.020.]

(d) Powers of commissioners — Fees. [Reserved. See RCW 2.24.040.]

(e) Revision by court. [Reserved. See RCW 2.24.050.]

Plain-English Summary

Rule 53.2 follows the same structure as Rule 53.1: rather than stating the rule for court commissioners directly, each lettered subsection names a topic and marks it "[Reserved]" with a citation to the controlling RCW section. The topics covered are the appointment, qualifications, and term of office of court commissioners (RCW 2.24.010), the oath a commissioner must take (RCW 2.24.020), a commissioner's salary (RCW 2.24.030), a commissioner's powers and fees (RCW 2.24.040), and how the superior court may revise a commissioner's rulings (RCW 2.24.050).

Anyone looking for the substantive rules on how a commissioner is appointed, what a commissioner may do, or how a party gets the superior court to review a commissioner's decision needs to consult the cited RCW sections directly. Rule 53.2 supplies the index to those sections, not the underlying law.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does CR 53.2 cover?

It identifies five topics concerning court commissioners — appointment, qualifications, and term of office; the oath of office; salary; powers and fees; and revision of a commissioner's rulings by the court — and reserves each one to the corresponding RCW 2.24 section rather than stating the substantive rule in the text of CR 53.2.

Where is the actual law on court commissioners' powers?

RCW 2.24.040, which Rule 53.2(d) cross-references for a commissioner's powers and fees.

How does a party get a commissioner's ruling reviewed by the superior court?

Rule 53.2(e) identifies revision by the court as a topic and points to RCW 2.24.050 for the governing procedure, rather than describing that procedure in the rule itself.

Is Rule 53.2 related to Rule 53.1?

Both rules use the same reserved-and-cross-referenced format to point readers to statutory provisions rather than restate them — Rule 53.1 for referees under RCW 4.48, and Rule 53.2 for court commissioners under RCW 2.24.

Source & verification. Rule text and amendment history are reproduced verbatim from the Washington Superior Court Civil Rules, adopted by the Supreme Court of Washington. Last verified July 13, 2026. · Official source

Also known as: court commissioners Washington superior courtappointment of a court commissionercommissioner powers and feesrevision of commissioner ruling RCW 2.24