A. The child support hearing officer shall prepare a report with a decision upon the matters submitted to him by the order of reference and, if required to make findings of fact and conclusions of law, shall set them forth in the report. He shall file the report with the clerk of the court and unless waived by the parties shall file with it a transcript or other authorized recording of the proceedings and of the evidence and original exhibits. The clerk shall mail immediately notice of the filing to all parties.

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B. Within ten days after being served with notice of the filing of the report, any party may file written objections with the district court and serve such objections on the other parties.

C. If the district court judge wishes to review the hearing officer’s decision de novo or on the record, he shall take action on the objections presented by the parties within fifteen days after the objections are filed. Failure to act by the district judge within the time allowed is deemed acceptance by the district court of the child support hearing officer’s decision and will grant the decision the full force and effect of a district court decision.

D. If the district court’s review is on the record, he shall set aside the decision only if the decision is found to be:

(1)     arbitrary, capricious or an abuse of discretion;

(2)     not supported by substantial evidence in the record as a whole; or

(3)     otherwise not in accordance with law.

E. The effect of a child support hearing officer’s report is the same whether or not the parties have consented to the reference; however, when the parties stipulate that a child support hearing officer’s findings of fact shall be final, only questions of law arising upon the report may thereafter be considered.