SAM YOUNG, APPELLANT,
v.
LUISA CORCUERA YOUNG, APPELLEE

Fla. 3d DCA | 2002-06-12
No. 3D01-2977
Before COPE, GODERICH, and FLETCHER, JJ.
816 So. 2d 1267 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (2002) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.

Synopsis

Sam Young appeals the trial court's denial of his exceptions to a general master's contempt report. The court reverses, holding that Young's early written objection to the general master referral, filed before service of the referral order, was timely and sufficient to deprive the general master of jurisdiction over the contempt and enforcement issues.


Holding

The court held that Rule 12.490(b) does not prohibit filing a written objection prior to service of the order of referral. Because the husband filed a specific written objection and never consented to the referral, the general master lacked jurisdiction to proceed on the contempt and enforcement issues.


Headnotes

[1] A general master lacks jurisdiction to hear issues of contempt and enforcement if a party timely objects to the referral of those issues.

[2] A written objection to the referral of issues to a general master is timely if filed before the service of the order of referral.

Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Key Quotes

“Rule 12.490(b) does not prohibit the husband from filing his written objection prior to the service of the order of referral, as he did here.”

Establishes the core holding that early objections to general master referral are permitted and timely.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

In October 2000, Luisa Young filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. The trial court referred temporary relief and final hearing issues to a gen…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
FLETCHER, Judge.

FLETCHER, Judge.

Sam Young, former husband, appeals from the trial court’s denial of his exceptions to the report of the general master. The specific issue before us is whether the former husband timely objected to the trial court’s order of referral of the issue of contempt to the general master where the former husband specifically objected four days prior to service of that order. We reverse, holding that the former husband’s early objection was timely and gave sufficient notice of his objection. As a result the general master did not have jurisdiction to hear the matter. In October, 2000, the wife filed a petition for dissolution of marriage and an emergency motion for temporary relief. The husband answered with defenses and a counter-petition. The trial court initially entered two separate orders of referral to a general master, one regarding the issue of temporary relief, and the other regarding the final hearing on the wife’s petition and husband’s counter-petition.1 The general master’s report on the wife’s motion for temporary relief was approved by the trial court. However, the husband failed to comply with the general master’s recommendations, and subsequently, on June 27, 2001, the wife filed an emergency motion for contempt, enforcement and other relief. The next day, the husband filed his written objection to having a general master hear the matters of contempt, enforcement, and other relief. Four days later, on July 2, 2001, the trial court ordered that the issues of contempt and enforce ment be heard by a general master.2

At the contempt and enforcement hearing before the general master, former husband’s counsel made specific oral objection to the hearing going forward, arguing that the general master had no jurisdiction to hear the contempt issues as the husband had provided specific written objection to that issue’s being referred to a general master. The hearing nevertheless proceeded, the general master issued her recommendation, and the trial court ultimately denied the husband’s exceptions to that recommendation.

Rule 12.490(b)(l)of the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure provides that no reference to a general master shall be given without the consent of both parties. If the parties do not consent to such referral, the trial court must hear the issue. Furthermore, “a written objection to the referral to the general master must be filed within 10 days of the service of the order of referral.” Rule 12.490(b)(1)(A), Fla. Fam. L.R. Proc. [e.s.] Here, the day after the former wife had filed her emergency motion for contempt, enforcement, and other relief, the former husband filed specific written objections to referring those issues to the general master. Nonetheless, the trial court ordered referral after the former husband’s written objection.

We conclude that Rule 12.490(b) does not prohibit the husband from filing his written objection prior to the service of the order of referral, as he did here. As the record shows that the husband never otherwise consented to the referral of these issues to the general master, the general master had no jurisdiction to proceed on the issues of contempt and enforcement.

Finally, we disagree with the wife’s contention that the two initial orders of referral regarding matters of temporary relief and final hearing were broad enough to confer upon the general master jurisdiction to hear all issues flowing from the initial dissolution proceedings, including that of contempt. The first two orders of referral plainly indicate that the issues of contempt and enforcement were not included in the matters initially referred to the general master, [see fn.l].

Reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.

. The form used by the trial court provides a checklist of seven specific issues to be referred, and provides a space to specify issues not listed. The trial court’s initial orders of referral in this case checked off only the specific issues of Final Hearing and Counterclaim [dated January 29, 2001] and Temporary Relief [dated February 1, 2001], The space provided for the issue of contempt was not checked off in either order. . In this instance, the trial court issued another form order, this time referring only the specific issue of "Contempt (or Enforcement)” to the general master.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Christ v. Christ, 939 So. 2d 256 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006)
    …t court. Swezy, 866 So. 2d at 1249. Although this issue may be raised through a writ of mandamus or a writ of prohibition, the matter is also properly reviewed on appeal of a final order adopting the general master’s recommendations. Young v. Young, 816 So. 2d 1267 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002). Thus, we are constrained to reverse the trial court’s order adopting the Second Amended Report and Recommendation and denying the former husband’s Supplemental Petition for Modification of Visitation. PADOVANO and THOMAS, JJ., c…
  • Hill v. State, 827 So. 2d 388 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002)
    …his sentence. Mr. Hill challenges his equal concurrent sentences of life imprisonment as both a violent career criminal and a prison releasee reoffender. The State concedes the error. See Grant v. State, 770 So. 2d 655 (Fla.2000); Sanders v. State, 816 So. 2d 1267 (Fla. 2d DCA 2002); Smith v. State, 813 So. 2d 1002 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002). Reversed and remanded to the trial court with directions to vacate the violent career criminal sentence. PARKER and GREEN, JJ., Concur.…
  • Young v. Luisa Corcuera Young, 821 So. 2d 1129 (Fla. 3d DCA 2002)
    …PER CURIAM. The Order on appeal is reversed in light of Young v. Young, 816 So. 2d 1267(Fla. 3d DCA 2002). Appeal 3D01-2977 was taken as a result of the trial court’s Order denying Husband’s exceptions to the General Master’s Report and Recommendations entered on August 14, 2001. Husband’s exceptions challenged the General Master’s jur…
    1 / 4

Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw