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Surrogate Reflects on 40 Years in Office

 

By Al Campbell

COURT HOUSE – Wow! What an election that was…and with the lowest turnout in history – 55 percent – of the electorate…President Nixon beat George McGovern and returned to the White House.
On the county level, a young Republican and family man, W. Robert “Bob” Hentges, West Wildwood’s mayor from Jan. 1, 1964 to Jan. 1, 1974, and well known in the local firefighting community, (he advocated that the state Firemen’s Convention be held in Wildwood, not Atlantic City), was elected to the office of Surrogate.
Six days later, in the chambers of Superior Court Judge Nathan Staller in the county courthouse, Hentges took his oath of office. Crowding near him in the official photograph of that auspicious occasion was Dorothy, his wife, who held the Bible and three youngsters, Randy, Rob and Kim.
That day so long ago seems but the twinkling of an eye. Yesterday, Nov. 13, 2012, Surrogate-Judge Hentges marked four decades in the office that became him. By his own count, 40 years, one and one half months of service to the citizens of Cape May County will have passed on Dec. 31, 2012, his retirement. He plans to work until that day.
In the whirlwind of local politics, where ethereal faces appear, and then vanish into history like morning fog with little but a passing nod, Hentges has the enduring quality of Mount Rushmore. A tall fellow with the bearing of a Supreme Court justice, although not a lawyer, Hentges has garnered respect of peers from Sussex to Cumberland and Atlantic counties.
Hentges was re-elected in 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 2002, and 2007. He chose not to seek reelection this year. In so doing, the door opened for a contest that pitted Freeholder Vice Director M. Susan Sheppard against Democrat Jeff Sutherland.
Sheppard won with an unofficial tally of 26,080 to 14,715. The figures, tentative until made official by County Clerk Rita Fulginiti on Nov. 19, mean a woman will, for the first time in county history, assume the title Surrogate-Judge here and become one of this county’s three New Jersey constitutional officers. The others are county clerk and sheriff.
Well known around the county speakers’ circuit, Hentges has given countless talks on the importance of wills, having them, and what happens without one. Filing of wills is one of the most important tasks a surrogate performs, but, important as that may be, it is only one facet of the position.
In 1983, Hentges was appointed to the statewide Judiciary/Surrogate Liaison Committee. In 1987, he was appointed as the first of four surrogates to a pilot project by the late Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz.
The group’s task was to ascertain if surrogates, both attorney and non-attorney, like him, could perform certain functions then required of a Superior Court judge.
The project was a success, and Wilentz asked Assignment Judge Edward Beglin, who chaired the Surrogate/Judiciary Committee, to ask Hentges to convince the other 17 surrogates to also accept the responsibilities to perform certain functions required of a Superior Court judge in each county.
That task was completed in November 1990. Because of that initiative, those colleagues participate in the program that has been deemed an asset to the state judiciary.
In 2000, Chief Justice Deborah Poritz appointed Hentges to a statewide review committee to look into the Surrogate Intermingled Trust Fund, and recommend any changes to that program. That fund remains as originally drafted in 1980. It established, in every county, a depository of court-ordered funds that are payable to a minor as the result of an injury claim or an inheritance.
In the state, there is $435 million on deposit for some 20,000 minors. Those funds earn interest and are released to a minor when he or she attains their 18th birthday. Locally, Hentges has $4 million on deposit for 187 individual minors.
The surrogate found himself surrounded by 53 four-drawer file cabinets with estate records dating to the early 1800s. Those repositories of data were stacked two to a row on top of each other. In 1979, Hentges initiated an office procedure to microfilm all records.
That microfilming project cost $20,000 and resulted in the removal of all the cabinets. Today, such files are scanned onto compact discs (CDs) and also microfilmed.
In his office, Hentges is “Surrogate and Judge of the Surrogate Court.” As such, he is deputy clerk of the Superior Court for all contested probate matters.
He is also responsible for all adoption matters within the county. All adoptions are filed with him, and he appears in Superior Court in such cases and matters. He swears in persons who will testify in such matters.
One of Hentges’ fondest recollections demonstrated the length to which he would go to help siblings, long separated by adoption.
Knowing there was a brother and sister, who had lost contact with each other after an adoption, Hentges went to work. He did investigation work usually done by a detective. His pursuit was successful, the brother, residing in West Virginia was located.
At that point, so near the goal of reuniting the two, Hentges resorted to calling the sheriff of Martinsburg, W. Va.
He did so because there was no police department in the town. Remarkably, the sheriff knew the man, and personally paid a visit to convey the news that his long-lost sister had been located.
The brother was instructed to call Superior Court Judge Raymond A. Batten and affirm his wish to be reunited with his sister. Shortly thereafter, the siblings met. Hentges felt fortunate to have been able to play a part in such an event, all because of the work of the surrogate.
As a firefighter, and champion of the Five Mile Beach economy, Hentges recalled, in 1969, being “booed off the floor” for advocating the annual N.J. State Firemen’s Convention gathering be held in Wildwood. The event had been held in Atlantic City.
Undeterred in his mission, Hentges huddled with three other greater Wildwood mayors and the Greater Wildwood Hotel-Motel Association. He offered a package at the 1970 convention that the event be shifted to Wildwood. The reason for the timing, that convention site is selected five years in advance.
“They came to Wildwood in 1975, and it’s been here ever since,” said Hentges.
After leaving West Wildwood in 1974, the Hentges family relocated to Court House where he and his wife reside to the present.
Hentges is recognized throughout the Garden State by his peers as well as members of the Bar for his depth of knowledge of probate and adoption laws.
The duties are great, but the office staff small, only four members. A previous employee passed on in March 2011 and was not replaced, he said.
Looking back over four decades, Hentges said the surrogate’s post has “changed dramatically” since he first placed his hand on the Bible in Staller’s chambers.
No law mandates the surrogate be an attorney, but Hentges recognizes that his successor would greatly benefit from being an attorney. Sheppard is an attorney.
The person who follows him “should also be familiar with the New Jersey Code of judicial Conduct as it pertains to the political functions as the Surrogate, and what he or she is permitted to participate in since the Surrogate is actually a judge, and, once elected, is subject to the cannons of judicial conduct.”
When Hentges retires at year end, no sick or vacation time will be payable to him by the county.
His salary, $107,250, is set by state statute at a minimum of 65 percent of a Superior Court judge’s salary. That salary has not increased since 2007, said Hentges, and is the minimum set by law.
Hentges said he is proud of his service to the people of the county. Said the departing surrogate, “the job requires my successor to be cognizant of the fact that when someone comes into the Surrogate Court, seeking help, that he or she just lost a loved one and tenderness and legal knowledge are the most important aspects of the role of Surrogate.”

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