Probate judges in Maine are part-time elected officials, and, with probate matters not being considered public, they rarely get much attention.
But with the messy situation with Hancock County’s probate judge William Blaisdell — who is serving a suspension and is facing arrest for not paying child support to his ex-wife — the position has come under renewed scrutiny.
A bill under review in the Legislature — which was introduced about a year after Blaisdell first ran afoul of court child support orders — would address some of the concerns about how the positions are currently structured and who oversees them.
The proposed legislation, introduced last spring, would overhaul the state’s county probate system, in part by eliminating the election of county probate judges like Blaisdell and instead filling those positions with appointments by the governor. The state judiciary would oversee probate judges, just as it does now for judges who preside in district, superior, and the state supreme courts.
The bill is the product of a decades-long effort to incorporate the county-administered probate courts into the Maine Judicial System. Probate court reformation would also bar probate judges from practicing law on the side, which they’re currently allowed to do.
Regardless of a county’s size or population, every county in Maine currently has one probate court with a one part-time elected judge to oversee matters like adoptions, guardianships, conservatorships, name changes, estates and trusts. Unlike most other courts, probate court matters are not considered public.
If the bill is passed, the state’s part-time elected probate judges would be replaced with nine full-time probate judges, who would be appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature. Those judges would each be responsible for multiple counties, similarly to how district attorneys are organized among eight prosecutorial districts.
In 1967, voters repealed a constitutional provision from 1855 that required probate court judges to be part-time county officials. However, 59 years later state lawmakers still have not implemented those changes, which would create a new probate court system.
In a Jan. 7 committee hearing on the bill, Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, proposed a phased timeline to incorporate the state’s county probate judges into the Maine Judicial System. The state would take over operation of probate courts in York, Kennebec, Somerset and Aroostook counties in January 2029, and the rest of the state’s counties would follow in 2031.
During her testimony, Carney noted that “preventing the exploitation of children, Mainers with disabilities and older Mainers” are among the matters overseen by probate judges.
Although most judges have a reputation for staying out of the spotlight, some other judges besides Blaisdell have found themselves in trouble. Former York County Probate judge Robert Nadeau had his law license suspended for two years in 2017 after multiple ethical complaints were filed against him.
More recently, in late February, after investigating complaints filed against Justice Catherine Connors of the state Supreme Judicial Court, a panel of judges determined she did not violate the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct when she didn’t recuse herself from two foreclosure cases.
