William B. Daniel v. Jennifer M. McCoy

Summary

The court vacated a divorce judgment because the District Court improperly made additional factual findings without taking further evidence and because the magistrate's judgment lacked sufficient findings and evidentiary support concerning parental rights and property distribution. The court clarified that a challenge to insufficient magistrate factfinding must be raised in a Rule 118(a) objection, allowing the reviewing court to adopt, recommit, or set the matter for further hearing, but not to make its own findings on the existing record. The court remanded for further proceedings addressing the child's best interests and a supported, reasoned distribution of marital property and debt.