Legal Research

Connecticut

An extensive reduction in the number of probate courts in Connecticut will officially take place on January 5, 2011.  The number of probate courts will be reduced from 117 to 54 locations. There are two excellent resources available that provide details:

Visit www.jud.ct.gov/probate/Redistrict/Directory2011.pdf for a directory of the new probate districts in alpha order with addresses, phone numbers, names of judges, and a cross-reference list of towns and districts.

Visit www.jud.state.ct.us/probate/budget/CourtNames.pdf  for a table with the district number, court name, and assigned towns per court.

Vermont

Per legislature, the Vermont Judiciary was restructured earlier this year. The former Superior Courts, Family Courts, District Courts, and Environmental Courts became separate divisions of a newly-created unified Vermont Superior Court on July 1, 2010. Effective February 1, 2011, the Probate Court will become a division within each Vermont Superior Court. There are fourteen "units" of the Vermont Superior Court, one per county.

 

The restructuring of Probate Courts means the four VT counties that have two probate districts each will consolidate as one district and one court location per county, effective February 1, 2001.

On Jan 20, 2011, in Windsor County the case files located at the Probate Court in North Springfield will be moved to the location in Woodstock. 

In Bennington County, the closure of the Probate Court in Manchester will take place as soon as the facilities at the Bennington location can be modified to accommodate the consolidation. 

On February 1, 2011, in Rutland County the Probate Court in Fair Haven will close and all case files will be moved to the Probate Court in Rutland. 

The closure of the second Probate Court in Windham County is up in the air. The two Probate Courts in Brattleboro and Bellow Falls will consolidate but both court locations will continue to be in operation. This will go on for an undesignated period. Later, at an undesignated time, the court will be truly consolidated into one as yet undesignated location.

Intrepration of Massachusetts Ban-The-Box Provision Being Questioned

The ban-the-box provision per Chapter 256 of the Acts of 2010, ("CORI Reform") became effective November 4, 2010. This law prohibits many employers from asking about criminal history on an initial written job application.  The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) is the agency responsible for enforcing the "ban-the-box" provisions of the law.

MCAD recently issued a Fact Sheet on how it is interpreting the new law. While this Fact Sheet is not a regulation, it does reflect the opinion of the agency that will enforce the law, and hence it should not be taken lightly.

However, according to a number attorney firms in MA that specialize in employment law, MCAD's interpretations seem to have expanded the original intent of the law, or at least the way the law was written. For example, the statute states that an employer may not ask about criminal history on "its initial written application form." However MCAD is taking the position that a written application or form requesting criminal background information prior to an interview is now part of the 'initial written application.' The actual law states nothing about interviews.

There are two excellent overviews, written by attorney firms, that dissect the MCAD Fact Sheet interpretations:

http://blog.hrwlawyers.com/blog/?Tag=New%20CORI%20Reform%20Law

http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/article.asp?articleid=116264