HB 7029 Summary

• Replaces terminology throughout probate statutes, changing "court of probate" to "Probate Court" and "judge of probate" to "probate judge" for consistency and modernization.

• Removes requirements that three-judge courts hearing mental health and tuberculosis commitment cases include at least one attorney-judge, streamlining judicial administration while maintaining two-judge vote requirements for involuntary commitment orders.

• Establishes Connecticut Probate Assembly as the body through which probate judges elect representatives to the Council on Probate Judicial Conduct and expands council jurisdiction to investigate probate magistrates, attorney probate referees, and judicial candidates in addition to probate judges.

• Authorizes Probate Courts to hold escrow accounts for advance fee payments and office budget accounts separate from state treasurer funds, with detailed accounting requirements and restrictions on commingling of funds.

• Adds Plainville to the Burlington-Farmington probate district and removes Plainville from the Bristol district, effective January 9, 2019; permits individual Probate Courts to serve as passport acceptance agencies.

• Revises small estate affidavit procedures under section 45a-273, modernizing language and expanding eligibility for assets under $40,000 while maintaining Department of Administrative Services notification requirements.