Estate Planning

Attorney Sam Cooper Appointed as Chatham County Clerk

By Gregory Herman-Giddens

Janice Oldham, who has served as Chatham County's Clerk of Superior Court for more than 30 years, is retiring at the end of this month.  Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Carl Fox has appointed Chatham native Sam Cooper to serve the remainder of Oldham's term, which expires on December 31, 2010.  Cooper will then have to run for election if he wishes to keep the job.

Clerks of Court are responsible for, among other things, estate, trust and guardianship matters, serving as ex officio judges of probate.  Legal training is not a requirement of the job, but the trend in recent years is for licensed attorneys to be appointed.  The counties in which the most probate matters, Orange, Durham and Chatham, all now have lawyers serving as Clerks.

Full post as published by North Carolina Estate Planning Blog on January 29, 2009 (boomark / email).