Clerk’s fees for filing opening a probate administration jumped rather dramatically on June 1, 2009.

Both Summary Administration and Formal Administration filing fees saw a $115 increase statewide.  The new fees were updated on the Alachua County Clerk’s website.

But don’t blame the clerks!

The new clerk’s fees, signed into law by Charlie Christ last week do not benefit the clerk’s office.  Instead, they are funneled for other state fund allocations.

Probate fees were not alone on the increase.  Foreclosure filings appear to have been hit the worst – which may result in a significant decrease in cases filed.

Another scheduled fee hike is due for July – let’s hope probate fees don’t see another hit!

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Details of her curious crime came to light today in court, when Morgan, 48, pleaded guilty to several charges and was sentenced to four years’ probation.

Her apparent motive: drugs.

Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa approved the probation sentence Morgan’s public defender had worked out with prosecutors. But he urged her to add drug treatment to her punishment.

“I want to make sure that you’re addressing what brought you here in the first place,” Siracusa told her. He read a letter from Morgan’s daughter describing Morgan’s childhood of sexual abuse followed by a lifelong drug addiction.

“All my life I can’t think of a time that she has been completely clean,” wrote Lisa Adams, who lives in Louisiana.

Morgan, who sat hunched over in court and cried at times, agreed to the treatment. Dade City police said Morgan was the sole beneficiary when her mother died in February. She stood to inherit $15,159 and a house.

To expedite the probate process, authorities say, on March 7 she photocopied the signature of Pasco County Judge William Sestak onto a document releasing the funds and stole a court clerk seal to make it look more official. Then she tried to pass the document as real at a local bank.

Sestak, who doesn’t routinely sign probate documents, said he’s never had anyone try anything like this. “It looked good,” he said of the signature. “It looked like it fit right there.”

A restitution hearing will be scheduled if the two sides can’t agree on an amount Morgan must pay back. Jason Bavol, her public defender, said it’s a moot point because the money Morgan stole belonged to her.

“In a sense, she took money from herself,” he said. Siracusa left open the possibility of reducing her sentence to two years’ probation if she can pay the restitution off quickly. He left her with one final warning: “You can’t do anything like that ever again, okay?”

– Molly Moorhead, Times staff writer

source:  http://blogs.tampabay.com/breakingnews/2007/07/rush-to-inherit.html

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Seems the fight may have been more about bickering beneficiaries.

Read the rest of the story here. (May 8, 2007, Associated Press – as seen freep.com, Detroit Free Press)

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