I had this post concerning the removal of the office of Register of Probate in NH as a Constitutional Office (and loyal reader Dan McGuire had an opposing view here). Now I have a couple of direct questions to Alan Glassman, currently the holder of that office in Belknap County…
Under the 2011 court reorganization, the Probate Court Division is now part of the Circuit Court system, and Belknap County is in the Circuit Court’s 4th Circuit based in Laconia. It stripped away all responsibilities of the Register of Probate office and transferred them to the Clerk of the Court.
The New Hampshire Judicial Branch’s website at https://www.courts.nh.gov/media/data-reports shows the numbers for all types of cases filed by the divisions of the courts, with the most recently available numbers being for last year, 2021. During 2021, that Probate Court for Belknap County had new case filings totaling 678, of which the largest number, 508, were designated as probate cases, as opposed to adoptions, guardianships, etc.
During 2021, the elected Belknap County Register of Probate was Alan Glassman, who is strongly advocating keeping his position in the Constitution despite repeated efforts by the Judicial Branch to have the constitutional language modernized, which would be accomplished by a “Yes” vote on Constitutional Question No.1 on November 8..
- So, Mr. Glassman, please tell the voters exactly in how many of those 508 probate cases did you play any role whatsoever- whether advising family members, answering questions from family members, assisting in completion of forms by non-lawyers, or any other useful endeavors?
- And while you are at it, please tell the voters the precise nature of your legal training that qualifies you to advise or assist regarding probate matters?
The voters will probably find that the answers to both queries are “None” and “None.”
Thus the well-reasoned vote on Constitutional Question No. 1 is a resounding “Yes.”
