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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 938
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 4678
Referred to Committee on JUDICIARY
Introduced by:
(JUD)
AN ACT CONCERNING ST ATE AGENCY COMPLIANCE WITH
PROBATE COURT ORDERS .
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) Each state agency that 1
is a party to a Probate Court proceeding shall recognize, apply and 2
enforce any order, denial or decree of a Probate Court that is 3
applicable to any determination made by the state agency in a 4
contested case. Any party aggrieved by an order, denial or decree of a 5
Probate Court that is applicable to such a determination may appeal 6
therefrom to the Superior Court in accordance with section 45a-186 of 7
the general statutes, as amended by this act. 8
(b) For the purposes of this section, "state agency" means an agency, 9
as defined in section 4-166 of the general statutes, and "contested case" 10
has the same meaning as provided in section 4-166 of the general 11
statutes. 12
Sec. 2. Section 45a-186 of the general statutes is repealed and the 13
following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective October 1, 2019): 14 Raised Bill No. 938
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(a) Except as provided in sections 45a-187 and 45a-188, any person 15
aggrieved by any order, denial or decree of a Probate Court in any 16
matter, unless otherwise specially provided by law, may, not later than 17
forty-five days after the mailing of an order, denial or decree for a 18
matter heard under any provision of section 45a-593, 45a-594, 45a-595 19
or 45a-597, sections 45a-644 to 45a-677, inclusive, or sections 45a-690 to 20
[45a-705] 45a-705a, inclusive, and not later than thirty days after 21
mailing of an order, denial or decree for any other matter in a Probate 22
Court, appeal therefrom to the Superior Court. Such an appeal shall be 23
commenced by filing a complaint in the superior court in the judicial 24
district in which such Probate Court is located, or, if the Probate Court 25
is located in a probate district that is in more than one judicial district, 26
by filing a complaint in a superior court that is located in a judicial 27
district in which any portion of the probate district is located, except 28
that (1) an appeal under subsection (b) of section 12-359, subsection (b) 29
of section 12-367, [or] subsection (b) of section 12-395 or section 1 of 30
this act shall be filed in the judicial district of Hartford, and (2) an 31
appeal in a matter concerning removal of a parent as guardian, 32
termination of parental rights or adoption shall be filed in any superior 33
court for juvenile matters having jurisdiction over matters arising in 34
any town within such probate district. The complaint shall state the 35
reasons for the appeal. A copy of the order, denial or decree appealed 36
from shall be attached to the complaint. Appeals from any decision 37
rendered in any case after a recording is made of the proceedings 38
under section 17a-498, 17a-543, 17a-543a or 17a-685, sections 45a-644 to 39
45a-667v, inclusive, or section 51-72 or 51-73 shall be on the record and 40
shall not be a trial de novo. 41
(b) Each person who files an appeal pursuant to this section shall 42
serve a copy of the complaint on each interested party. The failure of 43
any person to make such service shall not deprive the Superior Court 44
of jurisdiction over the appeal. Notwithstanding the provisions of 45
section 52-50, service of the copy of the complaint shall be by state 46
marshal, constable or an indifferent person. Service shall be in hand or 47
by leaving a copy at the place of residence of the interested party being 48 Raised Bill No. 938
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served or at the address for the interested party on file with the 49
Probate Court, except that service on a respondent or conserved 50
person in an appeal from an action under part IV of chapter 802h shall 51
be in hand by a state marshal, constable or an indifferent person. 52
(c) In addition to the notice given under subsection (b) of this 53
section, each person who files an appeal pursuant to this section shall 54
mail a copy of the complaint to the Probate Court that rendered the 55
order, denial or decree appealed from. The Probate Court and the 56
judge of probate that rendered the order, denial or decree appealed 57
from shall not be made parties to the appeal and shall not be named in 58
the complaint as parties. 59
(d) Not later than fifteen days after a person files an appeal under 60
this section, the person who filed the appeal shall file or cause to be 61
filed with the clerk of the Superior Court a document containing (1) the 62
name, address and signature of the person making service, and (2) a 63
statement of the date and manner in which a copy of the complaint 64
was served on each interested party and mailed to the Probate Court 65
that rendered the order, denial or decree appealed from. 66
(e) If service has not been made on an interested party, the Superior 67
Court, on motion, shall make such orders of notice of the appeal as are 68
reasonably calculated to notify any necessary party not yet served. 69
(f) A hearing in an appeal from probate proceedings under section 70
17a-77, 17a-80, 17a-498, 17a-510, 17a-511, 17a-543, 17a-543a, 17a-685, 71
45a-650, 45a-654, 45a-660, 45a-674, 45a-676, 45a-681, 45a-682, 45a-699, 72
45a-703, [or] 45a-717 or section 1 of this act shall commence, unless a 73
stay has been issued pursuant to subsection (g) of this section, not later 74
than ninety days after the appeal has been filed. 75
(g) The filing of an appeal under this section shall not, of itself, stay 76
enforcement of the order, denial or decree from which the appeal is 77
taken. A motion for a stay may be made to the Probate Court or the 78
Superior Court. The filing of a motion with the Probate Court shall not 79
preclude action by the Superior Court. 80 Raised Bill No. 938
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(h) Nothing in this section shall prevent any person aggrieved by 81
any order, denial or decree of a Probate Court in any matter, unless 82
otherwise specially provided by law, from filing a petition for a writ of 83
habeas corpus, a petition for termination of involuntary representation 84
or a petition for any other available remedy. 85
(i) (1) Except for matters described in subdivision (3) of this 86
subsection, in any appeal filed under this section, the appeal may be 87
referred by the Superior Court to a special assignment probate judge 88
appointed in accordance with section 45a-79b, who is assigned by the 89
Probate Court Administrator for the purposes of such appeal, except 90
that such appeal shall be heard by the Superior Court if any party files 91
a demand for such hearing in writing with the Superior Court not later 92
than twenty days after service of the appeal. 93
(2) An appeal referred to a special assignment probate judge 94
pursuant to this subsection shall proceed in accordance with the rules 95
for references set forth in the rules of the judges of the Superior Court. 96
(3) The following matters shall not be referred to a special 97
assignment probate judge pursuant to this subsection: Appeals (A) 98
under sections 17a-75 to 17a-83, inclusive, section 17a-274, sections 17a-99
495 to 17a-528, inclusive, sections 17a-543, 17a-543a, 17a-685 to 17a-688, 100
inclusive, and section 1 of this act, (B) of children's matters, as defined 101
in subsection (a) of section 45a-8a, (C) under sections 45a-644 to 45a-102
663, inclusive, [45a-668] 45a-669 to 45a-683, inclusive, and 45a-690 to 103
45a-700, inclusive, and (D) of any matter in a Probate Court heard on 104
the record in accordance with sections 51-72 and 51-73. 105
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Sec. 2 October 1, 2019 45a-186
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Statement of Purpose:
To require each state agency to follow any order, denial or decree of a
Probate Court that is applicable to a determination made by the state
agency, and clarify that a state agency has standing to appeal any such
order, denial or decree to the Superior Court with respect to such
order's applicability to the state agency's determination.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]