FLORENCE — Several elected Florence officials recently have been elected to high positions on state associations, and Florence Probate Judge Kenneth Eaton has joined them by being elected president of the South Carolina Probate Judges Association.
He said he’s happy to be among such residents as Florence attorney Flo Lester Vinson, Florence County Treasurer Dean Fowler and Florence County Council Chairman Rusty Smith.
Vinson is president of the S.C. Bar Association, Fowler is president of the S.C. Association of Countywide Elected Executives and Smith is the immediate past president of the S.C. Association of Counties.
“I think this says Florence has got some talented and gifted people,” Eaton said. “It speaks well of the people of Florence. We have good people whose talents are recognized by their contemporaries.”
Eaton was elected to serve on the association of probate judges in October during the group’s annual conference in Pawleys Island.
The group was established as a way for South Carolina probate judges to communicate and stay informed about legal issues in the field of probate.
Probate judges generally preside over cases involving wills, estates, trusts and guardianships, Eaton said.
“It gives the judges an opportunity to get together and discuss common problems and procedures as a group,” he said.
Probate judges decide cases on their own, but it’s still wise for association judges to come together and discuss procedural uniformities in legal matters, Eaton said.
When there isn’t administrative uniformity among South Carolina counties, it can be a source of frustration for lawyers who handle probate cases, he said.
The probate judges association also aims to get pieces of legislation passed.
“One of the things we are working on very hard is the abolishment of common-law marriage,” Eaton said.
Some opponents of common-law marriage say it once served a very practical purpose, he said.
But now the arrangement can complicate legal matters for those trying to decide how to settle a deceased person’s estate, for example, he said.
Eaton joined the association in 2000 after he was elected probate judge. He ran unopposed for the position in 2002 and in 2006.
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