Byron Macfarlane, Howard County’s Register of Wills, is the reason it all happened. By “it,” I mean Robert’s and my headfirst dive into Howard County via local politics. Our good friend, local pediatrician and politico Dr. Zaneb Beams suggested we volunteer with his campaign to get re-elected last year. We did, and after some lunches and canvasses and brainstorming sessions, we met lots of other local politicians and activists. We’ll always be grateful to Byron for introducing us to local political movers and shakers. That’s why I knew I didn’t even have to ask him to get together with me a couple of weeks ago 5o talk about his life as the county’s Register of Wills. I just had to tell him.

“I’d love to talk about it, Colleen,” he said, brightening up an overcast Friday. “Can you come by my office this coming Monday?” And I did!

Digging In About New Digs

Those who report to the courthouse on Courthouse Drive in Ellicott City would probably tell you, as Byron told me, there are several good reasons they look forward to shifting to the new courthouse in the County’s building. There’ll be more space, logistics will be simpler, and the courthouse officials will be in greater proximity to each other, for example. I’m going to miss the place, though. It’s a really beautiful, gray marble building that calls to mind the dignity, sophistication, and importance of the work done therein. Of course, the new courthouse they’ll be functioning out of in 2021 will likely be just as attractive.

“Colleen Morgenthau here to see Byron MacFarlane,” I said to the security guard as I put my bags on the conveyor belt to be scanned by the metal detector. He smiled as he pointed the way to Byron’s office. I walked through the pleasantly cool interior to meet Byron to talk about what the Register of Wills does and what he hopes he and his staff of ten can accomplish now that’ll he’ll be in the position until 2022 at least. He won the election to serve the people of HoCo–like me and my hubby Robert, now that we live here–in November 2018.

Related: See what Rev. Regina Clay told Robert about HoCo’s spiritual life.

I entered the office and saw Gary Smith, Byron’s Chief Deputy, studiously hunched over his desk. He and RoCo have become good friends since we met him in the course of local political hobnobbing over the past year. He got up and gave me an enthusiastic hello along with a tight hug. He said we’d catch up the next evening at the Ellicott City and Western Howard Democratic Club meeting. He’s an avid member of the club, and I’m its Veep, as regular readers of this site will know. I agreed.

“I’ve known Byron since he was in high school.  As a senior, he interned in my County Council office. Even then, I knew he would be successful in whatever he chose to do in life.  We are lucky that he stayed to work for all of us in Howard County!” said Senator Guy Guzzone  (D-13) at his annual pizza party. He’s an old friend and mentor of Byron’s.

Wills I Am

Byron got up from his desk as I came into his digs to greet me just as Gary had.

“I was telling Gary earlier about our adventures in canvassing,” he said as we, too, embraced hello. We laughed at that, because we did have some zany experiences together going door to door.

I immediately thought back to the mild, fall day he; Deeba Jafri; his mom, Kathy; and a couple of other die-hard local Dems met at the Starbucks in Wilde Lake to knock on doors and drum up support for his primary campaign.

Byron rolled up his sleeves and sat down, leaning to one side of his chair. His brown eyes took on a relaxed warmth as I asked him what he liked best about his job.

“People have low expectations when they come into our office a lot of times. They expect to meet someone who’s not friendly, to get jerked around,” he said. Byron told me he’s learned that people generally expect to have hurdles thrown up in their way in their quests to get estates settled. He said it’s satisfying for him when he and his staff can turn that assumption on its head. While someone might come in crying, having to deal with the loss of a loved one, he likes for them to leave with a smile.

“Just last week a woman came in with a rusted old trailer, and she had to get the title changed with the State of Maryland,” Byron said, as he looked beyond me for a moment. He said he could have been “nitpicky” and insisted that she get it appraised. But given its condition, he was sure the value was nothing.

“Instead, we did the commonsense thing. We gave her a one-page form to switch the title to the state because we knew the value already,” Byron said. The woman joked and laughed on her way out. She and others like her, Byron told me, often just want to know that someone cared about what they were going through.

Let’s Do It

Now, finally, I was going to get a burning question I’ve had for a long time answered: just what does the Register of Wills do. Byron smiled, a smile that told me he’s gotten that question before. He took off his glasses.

“Basically, when someone dies in Howard County and an asset in their name alone or that doesn’t have a beneficiary, those assets need to get transferred to the name of whoever’s going to inherit them,” he said. If there’s a will involved, Byron and his office go by what’s written therein. Otherwise, they go by what he told me are called intestacy laws.

“If there’s no will, assets go to a spouse, then kids, then grandkids,” he said. I could tell the list went on, and I harkened back to a beautifully done worksheet he and Gary handed out at an EC&WHDC meeting a while back listing a person’s beneficiaries in order.

“We open about a thousand estates a year in Howard County. In 2018 they ranged in value from ten dollars to 89 million dollars,” Byron said. I wondered who was this person who’d been worth 89-million-dollar. “We walk people through the process of figuring out the transfer of assets. If there’s a will, let’s see it. If there are assets, let’s see them.”

When he was in law school, Byron fell in love with estates and trusts. He graduated from the University of Baltimore School of Law in 2008. He got the impression that the office had atrophied under his predecessor soon after.. He said he’d felt good about his accomplishments on the Democratic Central Committee, which he’d been on for the previous four years, and that it was time to move on. Given his love of estates and trusts, there seemed to be no position better suited to him.

“I always tell people that we’re half human services and half judicial services. People come in here in all stages of grief,” Byron told me leaning forward on his desk, cradling his chin in one hand. He lauded his staff, saying they’re excellent at their jobs. He and they receive training from hospice professionals at dealing with sad, angry, and aggressive people grieving their loved ones.

“My staff and I always keep in mind that no matter what kind of day we’re having,” drawing out the “what,”  the people we’re dealing are no matter how upset, or difficult, or cagey about giving us information… it’s that they just lost a loved one,” he said nodding his head a little.

And: Robert also got to tour the Little Patuxent Water Reclamation Plant.

And There’s More!

Another service the Register of Wills provides, I learned from By By, as I like to call him, is the safekeeping of wills. They store them in a fireproof safe and they’re confidential, so no one can see the contents.

Byron is also clerk to the Orphan’s Court. When that court requires documents, they come to Bryon’s office He told me that he has a great working relationship with Chief Judge Anne Dodd.

“She’s outstanding, and we’ve developed a great working relationship. So our work as the office of the Register isn’t interfered with at all by my clerking for them,” he said smiling and nodding.

The last thing the Register does is collect inheritance tax, which he was quick to point out is not the same as the estate tax.

“Most people are exempt from it: spouses, children, grandchildren, step-children, they’re all exempt,” Byron said, “But if I died and left something to my nephew, he’d have to pay a 10 percent tax on it.” Despite those exemptions, the inheritance tax brings in about 3 million dollars in revenue for the state annually.

One thing Byron is out to change as Register this time around is the arcane practice of requiring the opening of estates to be published in the Daily Record, a legal newspaper. The original intent behind this was to alert creditors and people left out of a will of the opening of estates. But now its cost, which can be hundreds of dollars for the publication of one notice, is simply a drain on county resources, I got the impression. Creditors are looking at the Register of Wills websites now. It is 2019 after all!

Also, Byron wants to get rid of the nominal bonds, insurance in case the estates opening doesn’t pay its fees to Byron’s office. Last year nearly 400 bonds were filed in estates. Only once out of those 400 did the bond have to be pursued.

“The cost to the taxpayers was over $30,000 last year,” Byron said leaning back in his chair looking me straight in the eye, knowing I agreed. “All so I could collect the probate fee in one estate that was only $400. We can’t justify that.

Lastly, Byron would like to see the Orphan’s Court abolished and a magistrate take over its duties. It would simplify and speed up the process, which I got the impression Byron is a big believer in general.

“It’s not that the Orphan’s Court judges aren’t doing a good job–in fact, Anne Dodd, their Chief Judge, as I said, is outstanding. It’s just that these things are vestiges of the past and it’s time for them to go,” he said.

Be the Change

What excited Byron, and by extension me, most during our conversation was the culture change that’s taking place within his office.

“When I first came in here, there were times it was like a middle cafeteria–I hate to say it, but it’s true,” Byron said. He’s instituted some changes along those lines, but there have also been two other big changes of late that are making and will make a big difference in this area.

“People always wonder why these offices are elected ones, but I think it’s good that they are,” he said, nodding affirmatively. “If they weren’t we wouldn’t have Rich Gibson as State’s Attorney and Marcus Harris as Sheriff now. That’s been a breath of fresh air.” And when the new courthouse opens, the Register, State’s Attorney, and Sheriff will all work out of the same building.

“That’ll be huge he said, for us to share the same space. Right now we’re all kind of spread out over the county. Still, we have great working relationships,” he said with a smile.

Byron said he was proud of both diversifying the office and changing its culture in his tenure there so far. I’m proud of him too.

Day to Day, Big Picture

Byron’s proud of working to usher in a new, friendlier, more professional work environment since he took office, as I said. Another ongoing initiative he has was rightly proud of was a paper reduction initiative.

The office of the Register spends each day, he told me, addressing the concerns of county residents who come in, such as walking through filling out the applicable forms; and the workaday management of an office; and the broader projects like moving to e-filing and the paper reduction initiative.

“I always tell people that running a Register’s office is like running a small business,” Byron said. He’s responsible for procurement, banking, HR, keeping the lights on–“a little bit of everything.”

Out, Loud, Proud

I was so happy to interview Byron in June, Pride Month. After all, He’s Howard County’s only openly LGBTQ+ elected official.

“I’m a big believer that diverse perspectives create the best outcomes,” he said when I asked what he hopes his out status in an elected office accomplishes.

As regular readers of this site will know, Robert and I are big LGBTQ+ rights advocates. I asked Byron what his greatest hope is being openly gay in an elected office.

“My biggest concerns are kids being bullied in school and not living in supportive homes,” he said. “I hope my visibility makes it so that people feel comfortable using me as a resource and a sounding board when it comes to advancing rights for our community here.”

I know first hand that being out in elected office hasn’t always been easy for Byron.

“In my first race in 2010, my six-term, incumbent Republican opponent would say to people, ‘You know he’s gay, right,” he said. My disgust was quickly overshadowed when he told me something so ludicrous I had to laugh. His opponent and her supporters also told people he was part of a “Gay Mafia.”

“Living your life openly, honestly, and authentically is essential to establishing trust,” Byron said when I asked him if he had advice for elected officials or this who open to be who are LGBTQ+. “Political professionals tend to overthink elections. Voters just want candidates they can like and trust.”

Gary, Indiana/My Home Sweet Home

Yes, I know that makes no sense, but I can’t resist a musicals-reference when I get the chance. This one from Meredith Lacey‘s The Music Man.

On my way out after a fun hour talking to one of my favorite people, I couldn’t help bothering Gary again.

“A lot of people come to our office looking for help during a very difficult time in their life. It’s great working in an environment where customer service is the highest priority,” Gary said of his job as Byron’s Chief Deputy,

Back by the doors leading out, I waved to the security guards as I walked back past the metal detector. Just before I left the building I looked back and smiled.

“Goodbye, pretty building,” I whispered.

Death is inevitable, which Byron seemed rightly comfortable with as he spoke of his work. We all even have to go through grief, he seemed to get. But it doesn’t have to be unbearable, and I felt good that if I or Robert or any of the good friends we’ve made here in HoCo, had to avail ourselves of the services the Register of Wills we’d be in caring hands. It occurred to me that so much of my chat with Bryon had centered on progress, on forward movement for the office. Getting rid of archaic practices; making estate-opening faster and cheaper, and even creating an open. And of course, that new building on its way! That’s the kind of person I want in the office of Register of Wills, I thought.

Also: What does a State’s Attorney do, you ask? Let HoCo’s Rich Gibson tell you!

Thanks for reading! Check back with us here at rocoinhoco.com every week as Robert, Colleen (and pup, Moses) get to know the many facets—one each week–of this prismatic place called Howard County. We want to take you along with us, so follow us on Twitter at @rocoinhoco, join our Facebook group, and follow us on Instagram at @rocoinhoco.