Monday, January 11, 2010

January 11, 2010

I attended the House Judiciary Committee hearing Friday morning on H. 461 and heard the testimony of one of its sponsors, Rep. Anne Donahue of Northfield. She is attempting to amend 14 VSA 1902, the small estates section. She related the story of the untimely death of her 22 year old nephew, unmarried and without children. Even though his estate was minimal, the small estate process was unavailable to his parents because he left neither a surviving spouse or children. H. 461 would amend this section by expanding its applicability by adding to the present law “the deceased left a surviving parent or parents but no spouse or child. It continues the limitation of applicability to estates with no real estate and valued at less that $10,000. There were really no questions from committee members and no objections either by me or the Vermont Bankers’ Association, the only others in the room at the time.
Although the committee has not yet posted this week’s schedule, I expect to be able to present the VBA Board’s position on judicial restructuring this Wednesday. As of last week, the plan, as I understood it, was that the committee is going to hear from Justice Johnson, Judge Davenport and me on Wednesday morning. I’ll keep you posted.
I thought you might be interested in the following quote concerning restructuring from the Governor during last week’s state of the state address:

Access to our courts and the timely resolution of cases is one of the
fundamental obligations of state government. Ensuring that Vermont’s judicial
system is financially sustainable is of utmost importance. In the past year, the
Judiciary has pitched in to help meet our fiscal challenges. While furloughs
and occasional Court closings were necessary, they are not acceptable longterm
solutions.
The recommendations of the Commission on Judicial Operations provide a
blueprint for a stronger and more affordable system of justice. I know some
ideas are controversial; some changes depart from long-held traditions; and the
necessary rebalancing will affect certain districts and constituencies. But like
all of our decisions this year, narrow interests must take a backseat to the
broader public interest. The General Assembly must give these
recommendations due consideration, finding in them, as I have, a path forward.

No comments:

Post a Comment