Appellate court blasts Probate Court practice

YOUNGSTOWN —An appeals court ruling calls “appalling” the behavior of two Mahoning County Probate Court magistrates and “arbitrary and puzzling” the actions of the court toward four beneficiaries of a Boardman man while they were trying to settle their father’s estate shortly after his 2005 death.

The comments were contained in a decision   this week by the 7th District Court of Appeals, which said Judge Timothy P. Maloney’s court had improperly established a rule requiring that an attorney be hired to settle an estate in cases where the deceased has more than one surviving child. It said the court also improperly established a rule requiring a surety bond in all estate cases.

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