Tom Bolt, Managing Attorney of the St. Thomas law fim, Tom Bolt & Associates, has been reappointed as Chair of the Virgin Islands Bar Association’s Legislation and Law Reform Committee.  Bolt who served as Counsel to the Virgin Islands Legislature throughout the 1980’s also serves as Chair of the Virgin Islands Uniform Law Commission.

"There are a number of issues that are of concern to the Virgin Islands public that the Bar Association will be addressing." Bolt said.  "Chief among these is the probate code.  Virgin Islanders are constrained by the current law.  We have homes that are abandoned due to probate.  It is taking as much as 10-12 years to probate very small estates.  This should not be." Bolt noted.

 

The top issues listed by the Virgin Islands Bar for legislative reform are the probate code, the corporate code and the condominium code.  In addition, the Committee hopes to resolve long standing issues on the business licensure of attorneys in the Territory.

"We will be picking up where last year’s Committee left off."  The Probate Code reform will began with the Uniform Probate Code and will benefit from work completed by Superior Court Judge Patricia Steele and her staff.  The Probate Code has also been noted as a priority by the local AARP Chapter.