Request By:
Mr. Dean D. Hunter, Jr.
Chief Administrative Officer
Lexington Fayette Urban County Government
Municipal Building
136 Walnut Street
Lexington, Kentucky 40507
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
You ask for our opinion concerning the proper procedure to be followed when a magistrate dies in office.
A justice of the peace of Fayette County recently died. His office has been padlocked since his death, but now his widow would like entry to gather and remove personal belongings.
You ask about the proper disposition of the deceased's office, records and personal belongings.
His widow, heirs, or devisees, as the case may be, should be permitted to gather and remove his purely personal belongings, i.e., personal property having no connection with the official records of that office.
We assume that the office space and office furniture and equipment belong to Urban County Government. This property should be taken over by the proper custodial office of LFUCG.
As to the judicial records, it is our opinion that KRS 25.630(3) controls. That subsection provides that if a justice vacates his office, the nearest justice to his residence may act in his place until the vacany is filled. Of course the judicial function of that office expires as of January 2, 1978. See § 142, Kentucky Constitution, and Wheeler v. Schulman, 165 Ky. 185, 176 S.W. 1017 (1915) 1021.
An audit of the deceased's accounts would be proper. See Section 5.10 of the charter of LFUCG and Holsclaw v. Stephens, Ky., 507 S.W.2d 462 (1974) 468 and 477.