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Candidate Bio
I live in Denton, my mom was born in Denton, and her grandparents were farmers here in Denton. My father was in the Air Force, so for the first 14 years of our life, we traveled around.
I am the current Register of Wills. I was appointed by the judges of the Orphans' Court when Jim (Phelps) passed away. I am running for this office because I believe it should be led by someone with experience, compassion and a deep respect for the people of this county.
I have 30 years of hands-on knowledge working with Estates, and 15 years of that time has been in this office. I have held the title of Clerk II, Deputy I, Deputy III, Assistant Chief Deputy, Chief Deputy and Register.
How does the office that you are seeking serve citizens in Caroline County?
People don't like to talk about death, but that's what we do. We guide people when loved ones have passed away, and if they passed with assets that were just in their own name, an estate has to be opened. A personal representative, which is sometimes in a will, has to be appointed to be able to administer the will, if there is one, or to handle the assets that the decedent owned when they passed away. It can get kind of complicated.
I love working with these people and being able to help somebody at one of the worst moments of their life and make them feel more comfortable about talking about it – just them knowing that we're going to do everything that we can to make what they're going through easier. Basically, I just want everybody to get accurate, good service and knowledge.
We are not allowed to give legal advice at all. So we can open the estate for you. We can prepare your paperwork for you, but once you start asking legal questions, we legally have to refer you to an attorney. We have court hearings for family disputes, and I deal with attorneys daily. We have Orphans Court once a week.
If your office budget has significant budget cuts, how do you imagine you will handle this?
The Register of Wills office is completely and totally different than any other state office. We don’t have a budget. We're all self-contained. Nothing is paid for by the (State) Comptroller's Office. We make roughly $135 million a year. Last year, the Register of Wills used that money to fund its own self, including payroll, insurance, everything.
We collected that money through state probate fees and inheritance tax. We pay our salaries, we pay all of our bills, and last year, we wrote a check for $90 million and gave to the comptroller at the end of the year.
I have to send them money monthly: 75% of what I've collected I have to send to the comptroller's office at the end of every month. That leaves me 25% working capital to pay the bills that I have here at the end of the year. At the end of our fiscal year, I write them a check for every cent that is in my checkbook. I have no money until somebody walks into my office and hands me a state probate fee or an inheritance tax. It's like our own little business, and any profit that we make, we pay to (the state).
Your office is a state office serving Caroline County residents. How will you manage local needs with state requirements?
I've been doing it 30 years, so I like doing it, but it is a continuing education (because) the laws change, and they implement new laws, and you can't know all of them. Even if I think that I'm right, but I have just that little niggling behind the back of my head, I'll do one of two things: I'll call another register of wills who has maybe had the same situation, or I'll get in touch with the Attorney General or the Assistant Attorney General, and he’s amazing. He specifically deals with the 24 registers when they run into questions and have issues.
