LA PLATA — Charles County will not ask the General Assembly to require Orphans Court judges to hold law degrees, at least not in 2027.
The Board of County Commissioners agreed Oct. 20 to leave a resident’s proposal out of its 2027 state legislative package. A majority said the state is already studying the question and the county should wait, though commissioners were split on whether the change is needed.
Orphans Court handles wills, estates and guardianships. In Charles and most Maryland counties, its three judges are elected and are not required to be lawyers. The resident who brought the proposal argued that families dealing with an estate deserve judges with legal training. The debate comes weeks after the Maryland Supreme Court removed an Anne Arundel County Orphans Court judge from the bench.
How often families appeal
Commissioners had asked at an earlier work session how often Orphans Court decisions are overturned. Acting Deputy County Administrator Daniel Mitchell said the court administrator could not say, because appeals are heard de novo in Circuit Court, meaning the case starts over and the lower decision is not reviewed. No one tracks how often the Orphans Court gets it wrong, he said.
What the county could count:
- Cases heard: about 200 a year, including 231 in fiscal 2025.
- Appeals to Circuit Court: 18 from fiscal 2024 through fiscal 2026, including six in fiscal 2024 and five in fiscal 2025.
- Cost to appeal: $165.
That works out to roughly 3% of cases appealed each year.
A divided board
One commissioner, who said the commissioner’s own family is going through the Orphans Court process now, called the current system cost-effective for both government and families. Parties who disagree can appeal to Circuit Court and hire their own lawyers, the commissioner said, and limiting who can run for Orphans Court would be like limiting who can run for commissioner.
Another commissioner disagreed, saying families facing a death often do not know they can appeal or cannot afford to, and many simply give up after the Orphans Court rules. People feel more comfortable when legal expertise is involved, that commissioner said.
A third commissioner said that even a judge with a law degree cannot give families legal advice, so the change would not spare them the cost of hiring their own attorney.
The state task force
The deciding factor for most of the board was work already under way in Annapolis. The General Assembly created the Task Force to Study Fiduciary Adjudication in Maryland in 2025, and it finished its work in June. Its final report stopped short of recommending that all Orphans Court judges be lawyers. Instead it asked lawmakers to create a new task force in the 2027 session to design either a separate fiduciary court or a fiduciary division within the circuit courts, and to consider whether all judges should be attorneys as part of that work.
One commissioner cited the task force’s concerns: small and rural counties may not have enough lawyers willing to serve, and replacing small stipends with judicial salaries would cost far more. The report’s preliminary estimates put current statewide personnel costs for Orphans Courts at about $2.5 million a year, with restructuring scenarios ranging from $3.1 million to $13 million.
The Supreme Court of Maryland has also acted. A September 2025 administrative order requires annual continuing education for all Orphans Court judges starting Jan. 1, 2027.
Maryland already has three systems. Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Prince George’s County must have lawyer judges under the state constitution. In Harford, Howard and Montgomery counties, circuit court judges sit as the Orphans Court. The other 18 jurisdictions, including Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s, elect lay judges, according to the task force.
Mitchell told the board that Judge West had noted a different push under way: abolishing Orphans Courts altogether and sending all estate matters to Circuit Court. One commissioner said that idea was worth considering, because some estate cases become complicated even though most are administrative and never need a hearing.
Commissioners said they wanted to keep studying the issue, follow the state’s work and hear from the local judiciary before revisiting it. Mitchell offered to contact counties that require law degrees to learn why they chose that route. More on the task force’s membership and charge is in the Maryland Manual.
