Hancock County probate judge suspended from the bench a 2nd time

by Bill Trotter

Hancock County’s elected probate judge has been suspended from the bench for the second time in the past year.

William B. Blaisdell IV, who has held the part-time position for the past 10 years, has been barred from presiding over the county’s probate cases for a year. The suspension was ordered by the Maine Supreme Judicial Court on Wednesday, April 16.

The latest suspension for Blaisdell comes after he has been found at fault by multiple judges for failing to live up to court-ordered obligations related to his 2019 divorce.

His second suspension from the bench — after having been suspended for four months last fall — comes nine days after his law license was suspended for a full year, following an investigation by the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar, which regulates the conduct of licensed lawyers in the state. In addition to working part-time as a probate judge, Blaisdell has maintained a private law practice.

In Wednesday’s suspension order, justices on the state’s top court noted that probate judges must be admitted to practice law in the state of Maine and, with his law license under suspension, Blaisdell is ineligible to serve on the bench. Blaisdell, 55, is an Ellsworth resident.

His suspension as a probate judge shall remain in effect for eight months “or until he is reinstated as an attorney in good standing eligible to practice law in the state of Maine, whichever is later,” the justices wrote.

County officials have said that state law allows them to arrange to have another probate judge in Maine come to Hancock County to preside over cases while Blaisdell is suspended. Probate judges make rulings on family-related legal matters such as estates, guardianships and name changes.

Blaisdell has come under public scrutiny in the past year after first being found in contempt of court in Waldo County for not following court orders related to his divorce settlement. In March 2024, a judge presiding over his divorce agreement castigated Blaisdell for not paying nearly $50,000 to his ex-wife in child support and attorneys fees, and for not filing federal or state income tax returns for at least three years.

As a result of that contempt order, the overseers reached an agreement to suspend Blaisdell for a year, but that suspension was put on hold as long as Blaisdell met certain conditions. Part of those conditions were that he file and make needed payments on his overdue tax returns within 90 days, and that he promptly and fully comply with all court orders, including those related to his divorce.

Separately from that decision — as a result of a parallel inquiry into the same circumstances by the State Committee on Judicial Conduct — the state’s top court suspended Blaisdell last fall for four months from presiding over the county probate court.

“We view Judge Blaisdell’s misconduct as egregious and deserving of significant sanction,” the court wrote in its previous suspension order last September. “Disobedience of a court order by anyone is serious, but contempt of a court order by a sitting judge cannot be tolerated. We cannot expect the public to have respect and confidence in our courts when a judge himself flouts court orders.”

Since returning to the bench earlier this year, however, Blaisdell again failed to live up to the terms of his divorce. A second judge presiding in Waldo County in February again held him in contempt of court for not paying $17,000 in overdue child support and attorney’s fees to his ex-wife. The $17,000 he owed two months ago was in addition to the previous $50,000 he had not paid as of March 2024.

During a call with state officials last month about the overseers’ most recent petition, Blaisdell acknowledged that he was not up to date on filing and making payments on his overdue tax returns from recent years, or with filing proof of that compliance with the Overseers of the Bar, according to an order signed last month by Justice James Martemucci.

Over the past 14 months, Blaisdell has not responded to numerous emails or voice mails from the Bangor Daily News seeking comment about the multiple court orders against him and investigations into his conduct.

Blaisdell has served as Hancock County’s probate judge since first being elected to the position in 2014. Four years later, he narrowly won re-election in 2018 against Lynne Williams, a lawyer from Bar Harbor who went on to serve in the Maine House of Representatives before her law license was suspended in January for alleged misconduct.

Blaisdell was re-elected as probate judge without opposition in 2022. He will be up for re-election to the position next year and, so far, no one has filed paperwork to run against him, according to campaign filings posted on the Maine Ethics Commission website.

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Hancock County probate judge suspended from the bench a 2nd time