Late on this as usual, but this often is the case in smaller counties in Mi. Many of them wear several hats.
For OP or anyone in Mi, Referee's do not make orders, they only make recommendations to the court. Every recommendation by a Referee can be objected to, and you can get another hearing on the issue in front of the Judge. You can object for any reason, your 1 free shot at getting it changed, without needing change of circumstance, or any other thing. Time frame for an objection varies between counties, in mine you have to the following Monday after the hearing with the Ref to object, in the majority, you have 21 days from the time you receive the objection to object.
Referee recommendations become orders when the Judge signs off on it. If both parties agree during the hearing to the recommendation and sign it, then it goes to the Judge to sign off on, you give up your right by signing it to object(it's right there on the recommendation about saying by signing you waive your right). If they do not agree to sign it, then it sits there until the time frame runs out to file an objection, if neither party objects in that time frame, the Judge signs it as an order. I've seen many different Judges on many different issues, not go with the recommendation a Referee made. Referee's usually follow a set standard recommendation, they don't listen to much evidence from either party, they don't have to, as you can object. Objecting takes it to the Judge who will deal with all the evidence, decide if more is needed, decide if custody/parenting time or child support investigations need to be done.
Every FOC has a handbook and there is a section on Referee's, what they can and can't do and the objection process. By googling you can find much online on this process to.
