What is the Orphans' Court?

Maryland law provides for an orderly process to transfer the assets of a person who has died (called a “decedent”). The estate process is sometimes referred to as “probate proceedings.” Examples of probate assets include bank accounts, stocks, bonds, real estate, cars, boats, or other items of value, including various types of business interests. When there are probate assets that the decedent held just in his or her name alone, a personal representative must be appointed to administer the estate.

The Orphans’ Court is Anne Arundel County’s probate court presiding over the administration of estates of people who have died. The Orphans’ Court has authority to direct the conduct of personal representatives, has jurisdiction over the guardianship of the property of minors, and appoints guardians of minors.

Generally, most estates are able to be completed within nine to eighteen months of the decedent’s death.

Judges of the Orphans’ Court
Maryland’s Constitution requires Orphans’ Court judges to be Maryland citizens and residents of their jurisdiction for at least 12 months before their election. Each of the three judges on the Orphans’ Court for Anne Arundel County must run for election every four years.

If there is a dispute involving the estate, Orphans’ Court judges conduct hearings to resolve the dispute. Anne Arundel County’s three Orphans’ Court judges sit together as a panel to hear disputed matters. In these formal hearings, the Orphans’ Court judges – like any other trial court judges – must consider the evidence submitted (including testimony) and apply the appropriate Maryland laws in order to resolve the dispute.

Examples of reasons for formal hearings include when the Orphans’ Court
has to determine:

The validity of a particular Will
Proper beneficiaries or heirs and/or amounts to be distributed to them
Who should be appointed personal representative
Whether to remove a personal representative who has not properly carried out his or her duties
What claims (and amounts) may be paid from the estate.

History of the Orphans’ Court
Orphans' Courts were first created in Maryland under the Acts of 1777 when they were established in each county to be served by a separate Register of Wills.

The Maryland Constitution of 1851 made Orphans' Court judges constitutional officers. The present form of the Orphans' Court, as adopted by the Convention of 1867, is found in Section 40 of Article IV of the Maryland Constitution.

The jurisdiction granted by the state legislature of Maryland to the Orphans' Court is set forth in § 2-102 of the Estates and Trusts Article of the Code of Maryland. The court may conduct judicial probate, direct the conduct of a personal representative, summons witnesses; and issue orders that may be required in the course of the administration of an estate or to determine the value or source of a surviving spouse's elective share regardless of the will's terms. The procedures for Settlement of Decedents' Estates are found in Title 6 of the Maryland Rules. Decisions of prior State and federal courts in cases arising in Maryland also inform rulings made by Orphans' Court judges.