Overview
The Land Court Department (LCD) did not keep an updated, complete, publicly available master list of partition commissioners during the audit period. When comparing the master list to MassCourts, we noted that 38 of 270 partition commissioner appointments were not recorded on the master list. In addition, the master list had six incorrect partition commissioner names and three names that were listed as appointed to cases as title examiners or guardians instead of partition commissioners. Also, three cases assigned to partition commissioners on the master list did not have correct case numbers listed, according to MassCourts, and five partition commissioner appointments on the list were associated with missing or incomplete case numbers and could not be verified through MassCourts.
Without an accurate number of partition commissioners’ appointments, the public cannot view an accurate list of partition commissioners and the appropriate case numbers assigned to LCD cases. In addition, real estate stakeholders cannot view an accurate list in order to select partition commissioners.
Authoritative Guidance
Authoritative Guidance
Rule 1:07 of the Massachusetts Rules and Orders of the Supreme Judicial Court states,
(2) Court Lists. Every individual court making fee-generating appointments shall maintain a list of persons eligible for each type of appointment made by the court. . . . The lists shall be public. . . .
(5) Appointment Docket. All clerks, registers, and recorders, for trial and appellate courts, shall establish and maintain, currently indexed, as part of the public records of the court open during regular business hours to public inspection, an appointment docket with respect to the appointment by the court of each fee-generating appointment. . . . The appointment dockets shall include the following . . .
(d) commissioner to sell real estate.
Reasons for Issue
LCD management stated that before the audit period, the master list was maintained on a desktop computer assigned to the previous judicial secretary using an unsupported version of the WordPerfect software program. This judicial secretary went on an extended leave and then retired. Therefore, the list was not routinely maintained. Other LCD managers could not update the list continuously because they did not have access to WordPerfect. LCD subsequently transferred the master list to a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet and assigned the responsibility of maintaining the list to the office manager. In addition, MassCourts does not have the capability to run a report that displays partition commissioner appointment orders; instead LCD updates the list manually.
Recommendation
LCD should develop policies and procedures to track partition commissioners assigned to cases and ensure that the master list of partition commissioners is complete and accurate based on their assignments to cases.
Auditee’s Response
All partition commissioner appointments were accurately entered into the individual case docket records in the MassCourts case management system. The separate and manually maintained partition commissioner appointment Master List contained clerical and data entry errors due to several lists that were maintained by different staff with incompatible software and varying levels of computer skills, as well as the pandemic causing interference with updating.
The Recorder's Office has replaced the manually maintained list by implementing use of a MassCourts generated weekly list so all appointments from the previous week now appear in the Master Public Book. The automated reports eliminate clerical error.
The Office Manager oversees this process under the supervision of the Deputy Recorder.
The MassCourts generated reports for the time frame of January 1, 2021 to the present are available for public inspection in the Recorder's Office.
The procedure and instructions are kept on the Recorder's Office internal shared drive.
Auditor’s Reply
Based on its response, LCD is taking steps to address this issue.
| Date published: | March 31, 2022 |
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