Imagine opening an invoice from the Connecticut Probate Courts while settling the estate of a spouse or parent to learn that the bill totals tens of thousands of dollars. For many that scenario will be a reality because of dramatic changes the General Assembly made in funding the Probate Courts. The new state budget cuts all general fund support for the Probate Courts for the next two fiscal years, creating a $32 million shortfall, and raises probate fees, particularly in the area of decedents’ estates.

Some of the increases are reasonable updates to a fee structure that has not changed since 1998. But changes to the fees for decedents’ estates, which are calculated as a percentage of the decedent’s assets, will yield unreasonably high fees. That’s because the legislature doubled the fee on estates over $2 million and did away with the fee maximum of $12,500. Without that cap, the Probate Courts will be sending out six- and even seven-figure invoices, making Connecticut the most expensive probate court in the country.

Funding the courts exclusively from user fees is archaic and unsound policy. It imposes an unfair burden on a small portion of the population by requiring families who have lost a loved one to bear the entire expense of the many social service functions of the Probate Court system. That model made sense in the past, when the settlement of decedents’ estates represented the largest part of court workload. But the Probate Courts today are an integral part of the state’s safety net for children, the elderly and individuals with mental illness and intellectual disability.

The Probate Courts help our most vulnerable residents by reducing the need for more expensive state services. We do that by helping families help themselves. Probate Courts appoint relatives (most often grandparents) as guardians for children when addiction or mental illness or incarceration prevents the parents from providing care. Similarly, Probate Courts appoint and supervise conservators (here again, most often family members), who are responsible for all aspects of care for our aging seniors and citizens with mental illness. Many of these individuals would be in the care of the state, at far greater cost, without the work of the Probate Courts.

Other states and counties recognize the duty to provide budget support to their Probate Courts, along with fees that reflect the value of services to the individual user. Few states follow Connecticut’s practice of including property that passes outside of probate in calculating fees on decedents’ estates. Eliminating the cap on fees vastly intensifies the unfairness of the state’s new fee structure. And the approach pushes Connecticut even further out of step with other states for funding probate courts.

Only four years ago, the probate system underwent a successful consolidation that saves the state over $4 million every year. The legislature recognized that the savings from restructuring, together with ongoing general fund support, would ensure long-term financial stability for the Probate Courts. The failure to appropriate funding in the current budget will return the system to the instability that plagued it for more than a decade before restructuring.

This problem needs fixing. Families should not be subjected to unreasonable court fees when a loved one dies. And the state cannot expect the Probate Courts to continue providing essential services when funded only by a declining revenue source. While we will make the best of the financial hand we have been dealt, we will be equally committed to seeking restoration of general fund support for the Probate Courts and adoption of an equitable fee structure.

Until that happens, I recommend you take a seat before opening an invoice from the Probate Court.

Paul J. Knierim is Connecticut’s Probate Court administrator.