Judge says court intervention needed to improve Westmoreland County Register of Wills office

Westmoreland County judges issued new deadlines and warnings Wednesday to Register of Wills Sherry Magretti Hamilton to properly file and process court documents.

A hearing was held in response to allegations that her office has failed to process documents related to adoptions, estates and appeals. Hamilton was questioned for more than an hour by Common Pleas Judge Harry Smail Jr. about the failures of the office she has presided over since 2016.

During her testimony, Hamilton broke down in tears several times as she described an office in disarray. She claimed the office is understaffed, workers are insufficiently trained and administrators and managers are disloyal and insubordinate.

In response, Smail said “there is a need for intervention by the court at this time.”

Smail and President Judge Christopher Feliciani ordered that Hamilton and her staff:

• Complete any pending scanning, docketing and distribution of orders, disposition and estate documents within 10 days;

• File and process adoption records within five days and

• Ensure all other outstanding work is finalized in a timely manner.

The Register of Wills office also was directed to remain open throughout the workday. For the past year, the office closed daily during the lunch hour.

“Summary punishment and sanctions for violation of this order … include but are not limited to incarceration, assignment of a conservator over the Register of Wills Office and assessment of fines against the Register of Wills in her personal capacity up to or beyond $5,000,” according to the judges’ order.

Hamilton will be required to submit statistical reports of all office work every four months.

“You owed the citizens of Westmoreland County and the commonwealth of Pennsylvania a level of responsibility and not to be tardy with regards to litigation,” Smail said.

Wednesday’s hearing initially was expected to focus on Hamilton and her staff’s handling of an appeal filed in the litigation over the estate of former Tribune-Review publisher Richard Mellon Scaife but was expanded to include general operations of the row office.

The Scaife estate, which Smail described as the largest ever in Westmoreland County, claimed Hamilton’s office was more than a month late in filing orders and processing an appeal to Commonwealth Court of a lower court ruling. That order, issued in December, affirmed a Pennsylvania Department of Revenue decision to reject a request to refund nearly $29 million of the $100 million in estate taxes that were initially paid.

Hamilton claimed she didn’t learn there was an issue with the Scaife estate case filings until this week. She said her office, along with help from court administrative staff, has since completed the work.

“We’ve had difficulty training staff and have had multiple new hires and people who refuse to train new hires. I’ve gone to (human resources). This has all come to light in the last few days,” Hamilton said of the most recent complaints related to her office’s performance.

Disputed allegations

Hamilton disputed allegations from the judge that she rejected help from the county’s court administrative office to improve operations.

Hamilton, in a related matter, also is slated to appear for a contempt of court hearing March 8 before Judge Jim Silvis.

Silvis, in a court filing last week, said Hamilton and her office defied administrative court orders issued in November 2022 to process and issue adoption certifications within 10 days of their being finalized. According to court records, 26 cases remained unresolved as of last week, including several that dated to 2019.

Wednesday’s hearing was confrontational at times.

The judge told Hamilton she was prohibited from leaving the courtroom during the proceeding. Sheriff deputies, who are not typically assigned to monitor civil court hearings, were present throughout her testimony.

Hamilton said she was aware of lingering issues within her office but was not informed about delays related to the Scaife estate.

She insisted that, for much of the past decade, she regularly comes to work at the courthouse, spending on average 20 to 30 hours a week at the office, but conceded that was not the case for much of 2023 because of health and family issues.

The Republican from Hempfield, who previously served as chief deputy to former Register of Wills Michael Ginsburg, was elected to her third term in office in November.

She earns an annual salary of $89,774.

Hamilton testified she has five vacant positions and that hiring efforts have faltered since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020.

“I am actively interviewing people and offered jobs that people turned down because of the low wages,” Hamilton said.

She testified she pitched an office restructuring and revised pay scales to county commissioners in December to improve future hiring efforts, but that proposal has not been considered.