(a) The Probate Court Administrator shall establish a Probate Court Budget Committee consisting of the Probate Court Administrator and two probate judges appointed by the Connecticut Probate Assembly. The Probate Court Administrator shall serve as chairperson of the committee.

(b) Not later than June 30, 2010, and annually thereafter, the committee shall establish, in accordance with the criteria established in regulations issued pursuant to subsection (b) of section 45a-77: (1) A compensation plan, which plan shall include employee benefits, for employees of the Probate Courts, (2) staffing levels for each Probate Court, and (3) an office budget for each Probate Court. Such compensation plan, staffing levels and office budgets shall be established within the expenditures and anticipated available funds in the proposed budget established pursuant to section 45a-84.

(c) The Probate Court Administrator shall annually transfer to each Probate Court the amount budgeted under subsection (b) of this section for a Probate Court's office budget. The transfer shall be made from the Probate Court Administration Fund established under section 45a-82. Each Probate Court shall establish and maintain a checking account in the name of the court at a financial institution, as defined in section 36a-330, to hold and manage the office budget funds. A Probate Court shall deposit all office budget funds into the account and disburse from the account all payments for expenditures permitted under the office budget. A Probate Court shall not commingle office budget funds with funds from any other source. The provisions of sections 4-33 and 4-98 shall not apply to the management of office budget funds under this section.

(P.A. 09-114, S. 11; P.A. 14-103, S. 15; P.A. 15-217, S. 18; P.A. 16-193, S. 18.)

History: P.A. 09-114 effective June 9, 2009; P.A. 14-103 deleted former Subsec. (c) re annual report on committee's efforts to reduce costs and potential cost saving measures resulting from probate court mergers, effective July 1, 2014; P.A. 15-217 amended Subsec. (b) by making technical changes and deleting “a miscellaneous” in Subdiv. (3), and added Subsec. (c) re transfer and use of funds for each Probate Court's office budget, effective July 2, 2015; P.A. 16-193 made a technical change in Subsec. (a).