Southern counties to lose probate judges
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The Probate Court is quiet as seen at Fair Haven Town Hall on Monday. Bennington County lost one probate judge. Other courts in Vermont will also be affected, with Rutland, Windham and Windsor counties set to lose one probate judge each. Cassandra Hotaling / Rutland Herald |
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By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: June 3, 2009
BENNINGTON – Bennington County has already gone from two probate judges to one and Rutland, Windham and Windsor counties will also each be losing a probate judge in less than two years.
Sen. Richard Sears said other legislators wanted to shut down a probate court and a probate judge in each of the counties in order to save money.
"It's purely over budget issues, over the ability of the court to deal with the financial crisis we have and making the positions sustainable," he said.
Probate judges handle matters like adoptions and estates for people who died without leaving a will.
Sears said he worked out a compromise with his colleagues and the court administrators which could preserve the two court locations in each county.
Rutland County has probate courts in Rutland and Fair Haven; Windham has courts in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls; and Windsor has courts in Woodstock and North Springfield.
However, Vermont's southern counties will all lose a judge. In Bennington County, an open judicial appointment will not be filled and in Rutland, Windham and Windsor, the positions will be eliminated at the end of the current term in February 2011, unless one of the judges retires before then.
Christopher Howe, the senior sitting judge in Rutland County, said he was a "little bit sad" to see the changes that are coming.
"For the last 245 years we've had a bifurcated judicial system because of the mountain between Rutland and Castleton. It was a little hard for citizens to hitch up their wagons and get over but I guess that doesn't work for a Porsche," he said.
Howe said he wasn't surprised by the consolidation because it was an idea that had been studied since the 1950s.
"I was a little surprised with the abruptness with which the decision was made. I was surprised it was buried on page 77 of an appropriations bill," he said.
Robert Greemore, acting court administrator for the Vermont Supreme Court, said that when fully implemented, the changes could save the state up to $250,000 a year.
The changes also bring Vermont's southern counties in line with the remaining counties that already have one probate court, Greemore said.
In Bennington County, Probate Judge Sally I. Cook has been spending Monday and Wednesday in Manchester and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in Bennington.
But while Bennington County owns both of its courthouses, Windham County leases both courthouses, Windsor County owns one courthouse and leases another and Rutland County owns one courthouse and leases space from the town of Fair Haven for the other.
Cook said all county probate judges, except in Chittenden County, are supposed to work part time but she has found that her work load covering both the Northshire and Southshire have made it almost a full-time position.
The courts were combined through the budget adjustment act — signed into law in April — which protects the job of the probate register in Bennington but only until the next election.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com
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