Last year’s big trial court consolidation effort was Vermont’s HB 470 which resulted in the state’s Probate, Family, and District courts being absorbed into the state’s Superior Court (the state’s Judicial Bureau, which handles minor violations, remains as a separate court).

New Hampshire is on its way to a similar consolidation with HB 609 which would consolidate the state’s District, Probate, and Judicial Branch Family Division into a newly created limited jurisdiction court called the Circuit Court. The state’s Superior Court would remain a general jurisdiction court. Like the Vermont consolidation, the older courts would be converted to divisions of a court rather than simply eliminated outright.

HB 609 was approved with committee amendment by the House Judiciary Committee on a 16-0 vote on March 10. The committee will hold a second vote to approve the amendment on March 15 before sending it to the full House.

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