Connecticut continues on track to eliminate under-performing Probate Courts, as Gov. Jodi Rell today announced she has signed the bill that would require the courts to become self sufficient.
“This new law creates a system that is more responsive to the needs of people who need probate court services when they are already going through very difficult periods in their lives,” Rell said in a canned quote from her press office. “Too many families have suffered too many abuses at the hands of the old system – compounding their misery at times when they are most vulnerable, while grieving the loss of a loved one.
The 117-court system, which is funded through fees on estates, could run out of money by the end of the year. Its statewide budget is being stripped by a combination of expensive guardianship cases and rising costs of insurance for judges and their staffs. The Probate Assembly, led by Shelton Probate Judge Fred Anthony, will present recommendations to a bipartisan group of lawmakers, with a mid-September deadline to agree on a consolidation plan for the Legislature to consider in a special session, probably in October. A field of incumbent judges and challengers would then run for the 44 to 50 probate judgeships in the 2010 statewide election.
The new probate landscape would no longer have its own fund, so instead of lawmakers raiding the fund when they need money, like the way the General Assembly siphoned $15 million a few years back, positive revenue would revert directly to the General Fund.
“This law makes sound, sensible changes to a system that nearly everyone one of us may have to use someday,” Rell said. “The cost-savings to the state will be tremendous, but more important is the just manner in which families should expect to be treated and heard.”