Middlesex Pilot Program: Fast-Lane Informal Estate Petitions

The Middlesex Probate & Family Court already has a very successful and convenient "Fast Lane" program for so-called uncontested divorce petitions (Section 1A Joint Petitions for Divorce). It saves time for both the courts and the parties to be able to walk an uncontested matter in to the courthouse and, if all of their paperwork is in order, be heard the same day.

According to a press release dated July 9, 2014 (available here), the Court will now be expanding this type of procedure to include Informal Estate Administration Petitions:

"Tara E. DeCristofaro, Register of the Middlesex Probate and Family Court, has announced that she will be piloting a walk-in session for informal petitions. The walk-in session will be available in the Registry every Tuesday afternoon from 12:00 pm. - 3:00 pm., beginning August 5, 2014. If the program is well received, plans are to expand it to multiple days per week."

As with joint petition divorce walk-ins, the informal packet must be complete and include all necessary documents and filing fees to be heard the same day. This procedure should improve the experience of petitioners and we applaud the Register's efforts.

If you are looking for assistance in preparing the necessary documents to include in an informal packet, contact us for a consultation.

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