2016 Brings Dramatic Change to Connecticut Probate Fee

To speak with an experienced probate law attorney, please contact the experienced attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. at (203) 221-3100 or at JMaya@Mayalaw.com.

When the new fiscal year began on July 1, Connecticut's method of funding the probate courts changed dramatically — and for the worse. The new state budget cuts general fund support for the probate courts to zero for the next two fiscal years, creating a $32 million shortfall. To make up the difference, the General Assembly increased probate fees steeply, particularly in the area of decedents' estates.

Some of the increases are reasonable updates to a fee structure unchanged since 1998. But changes to the fees for decedents' estates, which are calculated as a percentage of the deceased person's assets, will yield unreasonably high fees. That's because the legislature eliminated the fee maximum. Without the cap, previously set at $12,500, probate courts will be sending out six- and seven-figure invoices.

In the realm of decedents' estates, Connecticut now has the distinction of having the country's most expensive probate courts.

Funding the probate courts exclusively from user fees is archaic and unsound for several reasons. First, it imposes an unfair burden on court users by requiring them to bear the entire expense of the many social service functions of the probate courts. That model made sense when the settlement of decedents' estates was the largest part of court workload. But the probate courts today are an integral part of the state's safety net for children, the elderly, and people with mental illness and intellectual disabilities.

Second, cutting funding to the probate courts is counterproductive. Probate courts help our most vulnerable residents while reducing the need for more expensive state services. We do that by helping families help themselves. For example, probate courts appoint relatives (most often grandparents) as guardians for children when addiction, mental illness or incarceration prevents parents from providing care. Many of these children would be in foster care system, at far greater cost to the state, if not for the opportunity to live with family members.

Similarly, probate courts appoint and supervise conservators, who are responsible for all aspects of care for the growing number of aging seniors and citizens with mental illness. Without the ongoing support of conservators (again, most often family members), many of these individuals would be unable to live in the community and instead require hugely expensive institutional care.

Third, the policy of relying on user fees alone to fund the probate courts pushes Connecticut even further out of step with other states. Across the country, state and county budgets support courts with jurisdiction similar to ours, and fees reflect the value of services for the individual user. Few states follow Connecticut's practice of including property that passes outside of probate in calculating fees on decedents' estates. By eliminating the cap on fees, our state's new fee structure vastly intensifies the unfairness of that approach.

Finally, the new fee structure puts the probate courts on an unsustainable course. The legislature projects that the rise in decedents' estate fees will yield a 42 percent increase in revenue. That amount is unlikely to be achieved because probate courts have limited enforcement tools. Compliance will doubtless suffer as fees drive people away from the probate courts and, more broadly, from Connecticut. The policy will ultimately be self-defeating.

Only four years ago, the probate court system underwent a highly successful consolidation that saves the state more than $4 million every year. The legislature recognized that the savings from restructuring, together with ongoing general fund support, would ensure long-term financial stability for the probate courts. The failure to appropriate funding in the current budget will return the system to the instability that plagued it for more than a decade before restructuring.

This problem needs fixing. Families should not be subjected to unreasonable court fees when a loved one dies. And the state cannot expect the probate courts to continue providing essential services when funded only by a declining revenue source. Although we will make the best of the financial hand we have been dealt, we will be equally committed to seeking restoration of general fund support for the probate courts and adoption of an equitable fee structure.

If you have any questions or would like to speak to a probate law attorney about a will, trust, or estate matter, please contact the experienced attorneys at Maya Murphy, P.C. at (203) 221-3100 or at JMaya@Mayalaw.com.

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Source: Paul J. Knierim, Soaring Probate Fees Bad For Connecticut, The Hartford Courant, (July 10, 2015) at http://www.courant.com/opinion/op-ed/hc-op-knierim-ct-probate-court-fees-nations-highest-0712-20150709-story.html