WOOD HAILS PROBATE RESTRUCTURE

DARIEN- State Rep. Terrie Wood today voted in favor of a probate court redistricting bill which reduces the number of probate districts 117 to 54.

Rep. Wood is appreciative the Probate Court Redistricting Commission took note of her written testimony at the August 20th public hearing. Rep. Wood’s main concern was the tripling of the probate workload and how that will affect the timely completion of the court’s work. The original redistricting plan in August had the Darien probate court merging with courts of New Canaan, Weston and Westport.

The new revised probate court district will consist of Darien and New Canaan effective January 5, 2011. The legislature passed a law in the regular session which established a probate redistricting commission to develop a plan to consolidate probate court districts in accordance with the act’s requirements.
“Geographically, the original four-town consolidation was unworkable. I want to thank the commission for this more reasonable approach,” said Rep. Terrie Wood, “We all understand that the probate court system is out of money and needs to be revamped.”

The plan was to be presented to the General Assembly for implementing legislation and be approved by the governor under procedures and deadlines the act establishes.

The consolidation is estimated to result in a savings to the Probate Court Administration Fund (PCAF) of $4.0 million in 2011, and $7.9 million annually thereafter. This bill enables solvency of the PCAF into the out years without any General Fund subsidy through the Judicial Department.