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Bar News - April 19, 2002
Fast Facts: NH Probate Court
- The probate court has authority over all matters relating to adoption, termination of parental rights, guardianships, involuntary commitments, trusts, wills and estates, and partition of property.
- There were 9,685 filings in the probate court in FY 2001 and 9,447 dispositions. As of June 30, 2001, there were 14,949 cases pending.
- Five full-time probate judges have been assigned to Belknap, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham and Strafford Counties. Administrative Judge John R. Maher monitors the caseload in the remaining courts around the state to provide assistance to part-time probate court judges as necessary. Maher is authorized to appoint district court judges to sit in probate court as "masters."
- Each year, about $400 million to $500 million in assets pass from the decedents' estates through the probate courts to the beneficiaries. Millions more in assets are administered under the supervision of the probate court through guardianship and other trusts.
- In response to an increasing need for court-appointed guardians, the probate court has worked with the state chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons to recruit and train volunteers to serve as "court visitors" in its Guardianship Monitoring Program. Through the program, court visitors visit those involved in the care-giving process and submit weekly reports to the court to make sure the wards are getting good care and the guardians have the resources needed to perform their duties.
- The probate court has also partnered with the state Dept. of Elderly and Adult Services to conduct programs around the state to help caregivers identify people who need guardians and to explain how to get a guardian through the probate courts.
- New probate court rules went into effect in August 2001. The new rules were designed to update and standardize probate court practice and reflect new issues that have come before the probate court in recent years. Efforts are also being made to standardize probate court practices from county to county.
- Probate court forms, administrative orders and procedure bulletins are available to the public on the judicial branch Web site at www.state.nh.us/courts.
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