Our judiciary is often criticized as being slow, cumbersome and ineffective. In the world of probate litigation, the New Hampshire judiciary has established a special, designated court in order to streamline cases, bring cases to trial in a faster and more efficient manner, and ultimately to better serve the citizens of New Hampshire. Under current law, probate cases that are highly complex, that may have novel issues of law, and/or that may require more than one or two days of trial are often transferred from their original probate division to the “Trust Docket.” Two of our most seasoned probate judges in New Hampshire, Judge David King and Judge Gary Cassavechia, preside over the Trust Docket. Cases are held either in Concord (Judge King) or in Dover (Judge Cassavechia). Cases before the Trust Docket receive somewhat special attention and are often streamlined. The judges make every effort to schedule trial days consecutively (which in other courts can often be a problem). This scheduling can be a great benefit – trying a case over many weeks with only one or two days a week is difficult and costly).
As a result of the Trust Docket, practitioners are also seeing even more consistent rulings coming out of the court. A body of case law is slowing being developed which will benefit the probate litigators and, more importantly, our clients.
