Bar News - April 19, 2002
Pet Peeves of the Probate Registers of New Hampshire
Editor’s note: The following is part of a presentation to be given by Merrimack County Probate Register Jane Bradstreet at the NH Bar’s March 29 Probate Court Judicial Forum. During the presentation, Bradstreet became ill and was unable to present her "Top 10 List of Probate Registers’ Pet Peeves." For space reasons, we are presenting only the first five of those pet peeves. We are happy to report that Bradstreet has fully recovered from her illness.
PEEVE THE PROBATE register? Never! That is not what you want to do. Surely there are ways to avoid turning our valued registers into peevish (adj.-1: querulous in temperament or mood 2: perversely obstinate 3: marked by ill temper) public servants. And surely you want to know those ways!
Some of these peeves may seem trivial, but the constant repetition of the most trivial mistake can poison the attitude of even the most positive of persons. So my attempt in this presentation will be to point out the most often-cited peeves, and then provide you with the information and tools to avoid them. Smooth sailing through the probate process is our goal for everyone!
(Not necessarily in any weighted order of grievance.)
Peeve #1: Mailing Addresses
Not complete, or not there! Zip Codes are a particular problem. It is very time-consuming to have to look these up.
Current Address. Especially for ongoing guardianships, parties move and don’t provide the court with the change of address. Merrimack has at least 20 pieces of mail returned per week. Multiply that by at least 34 cents or more for each piece of mail, then multiply by 10 courts and you can see a real budget buster here!
Solutions:
Please provide the court with all the necessary addresses with zip codes. There are great CDs with the whole zip code directory on them that will allow your staff to look up zip codes in seconds. They are not expensive and are well worth the money in productivity.
Current addresses are harder. You probably don’t get the new addresses either, but when you do get a new address, please let the court know. It would really help.
Peeve #2: Notice to Parties
This was Rule 3, now it is Rule 21 and the form is titled, "Certification of Notice to Parties." There are several problems.
- Form is not filed at all because it is not understood when copies to parties must be sent.
- Form arrives after the petition/motion but does not state with which petition/motion it is connected.
- Form does not list all interested parties.
- Copies are not sent to parties in a timely fashion.
Solutions:
When in doubt, remember this easy rule: Always, always, always send the certification! There are only two exceptions: Accountings have a place on the form to list parties sent notice and Equity Matters need to notify respondents with Orders of Notice provided by the court. Some law firms keep a computer list of the interested parties that can be attached to the form each time it needs to be filed. That makes it easy to comply when necessary.
Please include the title of the petition/motion on the form so there will be no confusion.
An incomplete list has an easy solution. If you are in doubt about the parties who should be noticed, just call the court. We can fax you a copy of the interested parties list. That list gives the status of each party so you will know which ones need to be noticed. The addresses are right there, too.
When the certification is filed with the court and date-stamped in, time starts ticking on the 10-day objection period. The copies to parties must be sent at the same time the Certification is filed with the court to protect the respondent’s right to object.
Peeve #3: Changing Forms
And you think it’s hard on you when the probate court changes forms! We staff members are really caught between a rock and a hard place. All courts will recognize the old form for some period of time, if possible, but when the form has changed significantly, it’s important to use the current form. An example is the Motion and License to Sell Real Estate To Pay Demands (AOC-120). This form now includes the license on the bottom of the second page. We no longer create the license from WordPerfect. If the incorrect form is used, we can’t give you what you need.
Solution:
Use the current form. Now I know that is a pat answer, but we really are try ing to make it easier for you to be up-to-date with the forms.
- New forms are issued only in July and January. We only change a form when a statutory change requires a change or there is a compelling reason for the change.
- Bar News publishes the list of the forms that have been changed.
- The best news of all is that many of the forms are now on the Web at http://www.state.nh.us/courts/probate/forms/index.htm. The forms can be downloaded in MS Word format or as an Adobe Acrobat file. If you bring the form in as a Word document, you can type the information right on the form in the computer. This is getting closer to e-filing! (Someday….) Ideally offices should not have stockpiles of blank forms. Having a template in the computer is cheaper and easier to keep current.
Peeve #4: Filing Fees
When the filing fees are not included, the petition is not considered filed. When the filing fee is incorrect, either a repayment must be made or an invoice sent. It may not seem like such a big problem, but with the accounting transactions involved, it becomes a productivity issue for us.
Solution:
All the fees for probate court filings are listed in Probate Court Rule 169. The only variation between counties is in the cost of publication. To help with this problem, please find a copy of Rule 169 and a list of the publication fee for each county listed in Attachment 1*. Take this back to the office and give it to your staff. I am sure it will increase the productivity of your staff, too!
Peeve #5: Inventories (This is a many-faceted peeve.)
The question in the probate office is not whether the inventory is incorrect, but HOW incorrect it is! Here are some of the most frequent problems.
- The math is incorrect! Every single court has encountered this problem.
- Real estate is frequently missing book and page or street address, or where recorded.
- Personal property is either itemized down to the last plastic spoon or not at all. Or, the itemization looks good, but there are no values attached.
- The real estate appraisal could sink the Titanic. When sending the real estate appraisal documentation, less is more.
Solutions:
Spreadsheets are great for adding long lists of numbers.
- Attachment 2* is a checklist used by some courts to check inventories for correctness before they are presented to the judge. This could be a helpful exercise to complete before even filing that "darling" little form.
- A rule of thumb for personal property items to inventory is to list those items that have actual resale value.
- A market analysis is great to show the beneficiaries that due diligence has been done, but a summary is generally enough for the court. If the judge needs more in a particular case, we will ask you for it. Save the trees.
* The attachments mentioned can be obtained by calling Bradstreet at 224-9589 or by e-mailing her at janeb@probatecourt.org.
The Probate Court Judicial Forum CLE is available on videotape or audiotape with accompanying materials by calling the NH Bar’s CLE Department at 224-6942.
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