Skip to main content
S 2939Marriage & Divorce

Courts and Civil Procedure - Courts - Family Court

This bill allows Family Court magistrates to hear domestic abuse cases and divorce trials if authorized by the Chief Judge.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Mar 4, 2026Committee Senate Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends the laws governing the Rhode Island Family Court to expand the authority of its magistrates. Specifically, it allows the Chief Judge of the Family Court to authorize magistrates to preside over cases involving domestic abuse prevention. Additionally, it permits magistrates to hear both nominal (uncontested) and contested divorce trials. Previously, the specific authority to hear these particular calendars was not explicitly listed in this section of the General Laws. The bill aims to utilize magistrates to assist with these specific types of family law proceedings.

For younger readers

In the court system, there are judges and there are helpers called magistrates. This new rule changes what the magistrates are allowed to do. The boss judge, called the Chief Judge, can now let magistrates listen to serious cases where families are having trouble. This includes cases where parents are splitting up (divorce) or where someone is being unsafe at home (domestic abuse). This change helps the court get its work done faster so families don't have to wait as long for a decision.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Divorcing couplesDomestic violence victimsIndividuals accused of domestic abuseFamily Court MagistratesFamily Law Attorneys
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Increases the capacity of the Family Court to process domestic abuse prevention cases, potentially offering faster legal protection and safety for victims of domestic violence.
  • Improves access to justice for lower-income families by reducing court backlogs, allowing divorce and custody matters to be resolved more quickly without prolonged emotional and financial stress.
  • Ensures that the judicial system is more responsive to community needs by maximizing the availability of court officers to hear sensitive family disputes.
  • Delegates high-stakes cases involving domestic safety and contested divorces to magistrates, who may not have the same level of vetting or democratic accountability as fully appointed judges.
  • Creates a potential risk of "assembly line justice" where the focus becomes clearing the docket quickly rather than giving complex family trauma the time and attention it requires.
  • Could lead to a perceived two-tiered system where those with resources navigate toward judges, while others have their critical life events decided by administrative judicial officers.
For Conservatives
  • Increases government efficiency by utilizing existing judicial officers (magistrates) to handle a broader workload, optimizing taxpayer-funded resources without creating new paid positions.
  • Strengthens the rule of law by ensuring that domestic disputes and divorce proceedings are adjudicated promptly, preventing cases from stagnating in the court system.
  • Facilitates the quicker resolution of property and marital disputes, allowing individuals to settle their financial affairs and move forward with their lives independently.
  • Expands the authority of unelected bureaucrats (magistrates) to make binding decisions regarding personal family matters, property distribution, and parental rights.
  • Increases the reach of the government into private family life by empowering subordinate officials to oversee and decide the outcome of sensitive domestic conflicts.
  • Raises due process concerns regarding domestic abuse prevention hearings, where magistrates might issue restraining orders restricting personal liberties and gun rights with less oversight than a presiding judge.

Votes

Loading votes...

Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 3 additions

SECTION 1. Section 8-10-3.1 of the General Laws in Chapter 8-10 entitled "Family Court" is hereby amended to read as follows: 8-10-3.1. Magistrates — Appointment, duties, and powers.

(a) The chief judge of the family court may appoint magistrates, in accordance with the judicial selection and nomination process set forth in chapter 16.1 of title 8, with the advice and consent of the senate, to assist the court in the conduct of its business. A person appointed to serve as a magistrate shall be a member of the bar of Rhode Island. The powers and duties of magistrates shall be prescribed in the order appointing them.

(b) In addition, magistrates may assist the court in:

(1) The enforcement and implementation of chapter 23.1 of title 15;

(2) The determination of matters that come before the court pursuant to § 8-10-4, chapter 1 of title 14, chapters 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 16 of title 15, chapter 19 of title 16, chapter 11 of title 40, and chapter 5 of title 40.1. Magistrates shall be empowered to hear and determine all motions, pretrial conferences, arraignments of juvenile offenders, probable cause hearings, and review of all such matters, including but not limited to, the temporary placement, custody, disposition, and adoption of children, orders of support, final divorce decrees, and the taking of testimony in conducting all hearings relative thereto subject to the review provided for in subsection (d).

(c) The magistrates shall serve a term of ten (10) years and until a successor is appointed and qualified and the magistrate’s powers and duties shall be prescribed in the order appointing them or in the rules of procedure of the family court. Any magistrate in service as of January 1, 2008, who serves at the pleasure of the chief judge of the family court may be appointed for a term of ten (10) years with the advice and consent of the senate and until a successor is appointed and qualified. Nothing herein shall be construed to prohibit the assignment of a magistrate to more than one such term, subject to the advice and consent of the senate. The magistrates may be authorized:

(1) To regulate all proceedings before them;

(2) To do all acts and take all measures necessary or proper for the efficient performance of their duties;

(3) To require the production before them of books, papers, vouchers, documents, and writings;

(4) To rule upon the admissibility of evidence;

(5) To issue subpoenas for the appearance of witnesses, to put witnesses on oath, to examine them, and to call parties to the proceeding and examine them upon oath;

(6) To adjudicate a person in contempt and to order the person imprisoned for not more than seventy-two (72) hours, pending review by a justice of the court, for failure to appear in response to a summons or for refusal to answer questions or produce evidence or for behavior disrupting a proceeding;

(7) To adjudicate a party in contempt and to order the party imprisoned for not more than seventy-two (72) hours, pending review by a justice of the court, for failure to comply with a pending order to provide support or to perform any other act; and

(8) To issue a capias and/or body attachment upon the failure of a party or witness to appear after having been properly served and, should the family court not be in session, the person apprehended may be detained at the adult correctional institution, if an adult, or at the Rhode Island training school for youth, if a child, until the next session of the family court.

(d) A party aggrieved by an order entered by a magistrate shall be entitled to a review of the order by a justice of the family court. Unless otherwise provided in the rules of procedure of the family court, such review shall be on the record and appellate in nature. The family court shall by rules of procedure establish procedures for review of orders entered by a magistrate, and for enforcement of contempt adjudications of a magistrate.

(e) Final orders of the family court entered in a proceeding to review an order of a magistrate may be appealed to the supreme court.

(f) The magistrates shall be empowered to hear de novo all applications for income withholding pursuant to chapter 16 of title 15 and appeals of administrative agency orders of the department of human services to withhold income under chapter 16 of title 15.

(g) The magistrates shall be empowered to hear all matters relating to the revocation or nonrenewal of a license of an obligor due to non-compliance with a court order of support, in accordance with chapter 11.1 of title 15.

(h) The magistrates may be authorized by the chief judge to hear those matters on the domestic abuse prevention calendar and the nominal and contested divorce trial calendars. [See § 12-1-15 of the General Laws.]

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.