As Margot Hall Retirement Approaches—

Judge, Legislators Vow To Preserve Probate Court

By John Voket

Sitting comfortably in the Mary Hawley Room at Edmond Town Hall, Margot Hall — Newtown’s probate judge of nearly 20 years — is anticipating exciting local developments in the court beyond her term of service as she contemplates her impending retirement. By state law, at age 70, probate court judges must retire.

This means Judge Hall will relinquish her office on September 12, just seven weeks shy of seeing a successor becoming elected to the seat. That successor, however, may not be the same individual who serves the remaining few weeks of Judge Hall’s term, between her statutory retirement date and the December swearing-in date of a newly elected probate judge.

While there has been no formal announcement from local town committees, possible candidates for the office include former Legislative Council co-chair Timothy Holian, a local attorney, and Peggy Jepson, who has served as the Newtown probate clerk for more than two decades.

This week also brought some security for the future of Newtown’s probate court in the form of legislation and a friendly amendment which was passed by the Senate late Wednesday night, and head’s to Governor M Jodi Rell’s desk for anticipated approval. That amendment will permit an interim probate judge appointee to sit in Newtown until an elected replacement takes office in December, following a special election which is anticipated to coincide with local elections one month earlier.

That action was strongly supported by Newtown’s entire legislative contingent.

As the state begins the process of consolidating its current 117 probate courts, Newtown’s Democratic freshman Representative Christopher Lyddy co-authored an amendment to House Bill 6385, An Act Concerning Reform of the Probate Court System. The amendment allows for the special election to occur to fill the vacancy created by the mandatory retirement of Judge Hall.

“In order to ensure small towns like Newtown are not overlooked during the reconfiguration of the probate court system, I introduced an amendment to preserve our local probate court,” Rep Lyddy, chief proponent of the amendment, stated on the floor of the House of Representatives May 19.

Republican State Representative DebraLee Hovey, who represents one voting district in southern Newtown, and Newtown’s Senator John McKinney sponsored that amendment. Without its inclusion in the full bill, Newtown would have been without a probate judge from September 2009 until 2011 when the court consolidation process is expected to be completed.

Rep Hovey said in a release that Judge Hall runs an excellent court, which is self-sustaining and turns money back to the probate court system.

“Newtown also is building a modern court room in [its new] town hall,” Rep Hovey added. “For Newtown to be penalized, when it has an exemplary probate court and has invested in a new court room, would be unfair. It has enough cases to keep a probate court busy for the foreseeable future.”

Rep Hovey said by ensuring Newtown continues to have a probate judge in office, the community “will have a seat at the table when it comes to forming a consolidation plan for probate courts in the future.”

Sen McKinney said, in the consolidation of the courts, the rest of the state should be looking at Newtown as a model. Statewide, the probate court system has been running a deficit and could become bankrupt by the end of this year.

The legislature is expected to provide additional funds to keep the system solvent for the next two years. In the meantime, a 12-member bipartisan commission will propose a plan to reduce the state’s 117 probate courts to between 44 and 50, combining several individual town probate courts into multitown courts.

The legislation is expected to be approved soon by the state Senate and signed into law by Governor M. Jodi Rell.

While Judge Hall will be enjoying her retirement by that time, she was eager to discuss the issue this week with The Newtown Bee. During an interview May 26, she said Newtown is positioning itself to not only sustain its own probate court, but with state-of-the-art meeting rooms and chambers in the new town facility at Fairfield Hills, Newtown will hopefully be considered as a regional probate center.

“I feel Newtown is a viable entity to take on consolidation [of smaller neighboring communities] and enlarge our jurisdiction,” Judge Hall said. “The new town hall has enough office space meeting rooms to accommodate added caseloads.”

She said an original plan to shrink the state probate system to 36 courts, one in each senatorial district, was simply “not doable.”

“Now we’re looking at up to 50 courts, which is more doable, but I feel 65, plus or minus, would be the way to go,” Judge Hall said. “That number would allow for some flexibility to accommodate shifts in the state population.”

In looking toward her own retirement, Judge Hall said the probate position is a unique and important one, especially here in Connecticut.

“Connecticut’s system is quite unique,” she said. “It has a small town flavor you don’t see in other states where you have county courts, which are much more formal.”

She said at one time, 133 courts serving the state’s 169 towns and cities allowed for judges to get to know clients’ situation, and for an atmosphere of “taking care of one’s own.”

“While probate courts have the potential to touch every person in a community it serves, we only serve those who need us,” Judge Hall said, adding that her successor should bring certain qualities to bear in the course of his or her probate duties.

“You have to pay attention and be there for the clientele; you have to show compassion for what each of them are up against,” she said. While acknowledging that some probate judges, especially those serving more urban populations have to be “more fierce than others,” she is happy to know there are Newtown citizens expressing interest in standing for special election, if HB 6385 is passed and signed into law.

“I’m pleased to see we have potential candidates,” she said.

Without pointing to any neighboring towns she would suggest to be appropriate for consolidation into Newtown’s court, Judge Hall did indicate that “certain towns would not make sense.”

“Commonality is a word to keep in mind when looking at consolidation,” she said. “They should look for similarities in social and economic [status].”

In the interim, between when she retires and a new probate judge is seated, the state probate administrator is charged with “citing” an interim replacement. If the special election is approved for November, the probate judge candidates will occupy the top line on the local election ballot, according to the Newtown Registrars of Voters office.