by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Circuit Court Judge Peter Dearing is one of 50 judges in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. But, these days he’s a one-man show.
As of Feb. 1, Dearing is in charge of the circuit’s new Probate Division and he’s the only judge that presides over the division on a regular basis. Probate (the distribution of assets for the deceased) also includes guardianship (the handling of assets for those not old enough or incapacitated) and trust (an element of law that Dearing said doesn’t have to be administered in court until there are changes made to the trust, a trustee is added, the trust’s purpose is altered or if there’s a change in distribution of the trust).
“Up until Feb. 1, all three were spread out among eight Civil divisions,” explained Dearing. “We have consolidated them into one probate division. We are, or were, the largest if not the only circuit court in the state that didn’t have a probate division. We are just catching up and I am the only judge that handles those cases. That is all I do.”
Dearing said the idea of creating a probate-only division has been talked about for a while. He and Circuit Judge Fred Tygart created a plan for the division and Dearing is executing that plan.
“I volunteered to put it together and make it work,” said Dearing. “It took about three to four months to put together. Right now, we are operating under a local rule that is before the state Supreme Court. That rule is still pending, so we are operating by administrative order.”
Despite the caseload, things are going well so far. Dearing said the current caseload in the Fourth Circuit is about 4,000. However, much of probate, he explained, can either be done outside of court or quickly. Dearing does expect the division to grow, but also figures he can handle the caseload himself for now.
“We used to have a probate division back in the 1970s and two judges handled the division,” said Dearing. “The question is, can one judge in 2006 do what two did in 1972? That remains to be seen.”
Dearing said one of the main reasons he pushed for a probate division — and to be the one that presided over it — was to get a break from his previous division. Over the past five years, Dearing estimated that he presided over about 250 criminal court cases and said burnout was becoming a factor.
“I wanted to do something different,” he said. “The advantage of having several divisions is that if you get tired of one, you can move around. It keeps your mind expanding and you get to learn every day.”
Dearing said he did have to better acquaint himself with probate case law before hearing cases. For about two months he read books and attended seminars on probate. He also extended daily ex parte by a half hour.
“You can get so much more done from 9 to 10 (a.m.) than you could in a half hour,” said Dearing. “The chamber is full of lawyers and we do about 12 ex parte hearings in an hour.”
Since he’s a one-man division, Dearing said vacation time for him will become an issue, but there are provisions in place in the event he can’t make court.