by Alex Appel
A probate bill passed through both the House of Representatives and Senate on Tuesday, May 5. The bill, SB 400, or “An Act Concerning Probate Court Operations,” changes procedures for involuntary conservatorship hearings and expands the training requirements for new judges.
A conservatorship is a legal process in which a person is appointed to manage the financial or personal affairs of an adult.
The bill specifies that every party involved in a hearing for an involuntary conservatorship must be given at least ten days’ notice before a hearing.
Judge Beverly Streit, the probate court administrator for Connecticut, sent a written testimony for a public hearing.
“We appreciate the support of the Committee in clarifying the timing for conservatorship hearings,” Streit wrote. “The language of the bill seeks to more plainly state that notice of the hearing is sent to the parties not less than ten days before the hearing, and the hearing itself must be held not more than thirty days after receipt of the petition. In practice, this has always been a consistent application of the statute. The clarification proposed provides the same consistent approach to articulating the timing of notice and hearings.”
In her testimony, Streit proposed a minor tweak to language for technical purposes—which was made—but otherwise supported the bill. Her proposed change was implemented in the final version of the bill.
Usually, an adult enters a conservatorship if they are incapable of handling their own affairs, either due to age or various medical conditions. In many cases, a person enters a conservatorship voluntarily.
Most of the time, conservatorships are managed by family members. However, there are cases when a probate judge will appoint an attorney to manage a person’s affairs if they have no adult around them, or if they determine that the person’s current conservator should not have that responsibility.
For example, Inside Investigator found one case in the Norwalk Probate Court District where a man voluntarily entered a conservatorship and asked that Rachel Menti, a woman he was not related to, be his conservator. Later, he was admitted to a hospital and Menti allegedly lied and told staff that she was his daughter. After that, the man’s actual relatives filed a complaint with the probate court, and she was removed as his conservator. Then the judge assigned Kristin Exner to be his conservator.
Exner herself has a history of alleged misconduct, including selling a house owned by one of her conservatees to a man with whom she co-owned a real estate company. This transaction came to light in a lawsuit against her.
SB 400 would also allow probate court administrators to audit how a conservator manages the financial affairs of an estate. Previously, they were only able to monitor a conservator’s account.
The bill also adds a mentorship component to training for new judges, allows someone who is under a federal firearms disability restriction and lives outside Connecticut to petition the state to regain their firearm rights if they were removed because of an in-state adjudication or commitment, expands the jurisdiction of probate courts to include name changes for minors, and requires appeals of matters concerning a minor’s guardian or emancipation to be filed in the Superior Court for Juvenile Matters.
The rest of the bill proposes minor, often technical, changes to the operation of probate courts. It also dissolves a working group that was established by a 2025 law to make recommendations on guardian proceedings, policies, and procedures.
Only five members of the House of Representatives were absent or did not vote for the bill. Other than them, every state legislator voted in favor of the bill. If it is signed by Gov. Ned Lamont, every part of the bill will take effect on October 1, 2026, except for the firearms disability provision, which will be implemented on January 1, 2027.
Full Article & Source:
House, Senate pass law amending probate court procedures
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