Overview
The Hampden County Probate and Family Court (HCPFC) is authorized by Chapter 478 of the Acts of 1978, which organized Massachusetts’s courts into seven Trial Court departments: the District Court, Boston Municipal Court, Housing Court, Juvenile Court, Land Court, Probate and Family Court, and Superior Court.
The Probate and Family Court Department (PFCD) oversees 14 divisions, including HCPFC—each with a specific territorial jurisdiction—to preside over the probate and family matters brought before it. Each division is organized into three separately managed offices: the Judge’s Lobby, headed by a First Justice; the Register of Probate’s Office, headed by a Register of Probate, an elected official; and the Probation Office, headed by a Chief of Probation. The First Justice is the administrative head of the division, and the Register of Probate and Chief Probation Officer are responsible for the internal administration of their respective offices. The Register of Probate serves a six-year term. HCPFC’s current Register of Probate, Rosemary Saccomani, was elected on November 4, 2020 and took office after our audit period. She was preceded by Register Suzanne Seguin, who served one term in office. HCPFC serves the residents of Hampden County, which had a population of 466,372 in 2019, from the fourth floor of the Roderick L. Ireland Courthouse at 50 State Street in Springfield. HCPFC relies on the annual state appropriation given to the entire Probate and Family Court; the appropriation was $34,340,235 in fiscal year 2020.
According to PFCD’s website,
The Probate and Family Court Department’s mission is to deliver timely justice to the public by providing equal access to a fair, equitable, and efficient forum to solve family and probate legal matters and to help and protect all individuals, families, and children impartially and respectfully.
The Probate and Family Court Department has jurisdiction over family-related and probate matters, such as divorce, paternity, child support, custody, parenting time, adoption, ending parental rights, abuse prevention, wills, estates, trusts, guardianships, conservatorships, and name changes.
The HCPFC Register’s Office is responsible for court administration and recordkeeping. The office is broken into three departments: the Domestic Department, the Estate Department, and the Vault. The Domestic Department handles areas such as divorce, child custody, paternity, child support, and drug testing. The Estate Department handles probate, wills, equities, adoptions, name changes, guardianships, and conservatorships. These departments also file paperwork and maintain dockets for court documents. The Vault handles the storage and retention of case files.
Conservatorships and Guardianships
When a guardian or conservator files for qualification, the Register’s Office files the paperwork. Employees of the office also attend any court dates for the guardian or conservator and file any paperwork handed from the judge. The office also tracks guardianship and conservatorship case files.
According to Section 5-101 of Chapter 190B of the Massachusetts General Laws,
[A conservator is] a person who is appointed by a court to manage the estate of a protected person and includes a limited conservator, temporary conservator and special conservator.
According to PFCD’s website, a conservator is responsible for the following:
- To serve as a fiduciary responsible for managing the protected person’s property, but only as the court authorized in the decree.
- To encourage the protected person to participate in decisions, act on their own behalf, and regain the ability to manage their estate and business matters to the extent possible.
According to Section 5-101 of Chapter 190B of the General Laws,
[A guardian is] a person who has qualified as a guardian of a minor or incapacitated person pursuant to court appointment and includes a limited guardian, special guardian and temporary guardian, but excludes one who is merely a guardian ad litem.
According to PFCD’s website,
An incapacitated person is someone with a clinically diagnosed condition that keeps them from being able to make or communicate decisions about their physical health, safety, or care. . . .
[Guardians are responsible for acting] in the best interest of the incapacitated person and [taking] their desires and personal values into consideration. . . .
A guardian [of a child] is a person chosen to make all decisions for a child, just like a parent would.
A child’s guardian is also responsible for acting in the child’s best interest.
If a conservator or guardian does not submit specific paperwork (such as annual accounts or care plan reports) within the required timeframes, the HCPFC Register’s Office assigns a guardian ad litem, a professional who looks into the circumstances surrounding a conservator’s or guardian’s noncompliance and reports the results to the court.
| Date published: | June 24, 2022 |
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