10-term probate judge challenged by attorney

BANGOR – A Bangor attorney is challenging a 10-term incumbent in Tuesday’s race for Penobscot County judge of probate.

Democrat Margaret Shalhoob of Bangor is running against Judge of Probate Allan Woodcock Jr., a Republican who also resides in Bangor. A probate judge handles estates, wills, guardianships, conservatorships, adoptions, changes of name and related matters.

Woodcock, the state’s senior probate judge, currently is seeking his 11th four-year term.

“I enjoy the work and I’ve been there a long time,” he said this week. He said the probate judge’s role was an important one in that it involved matters of family well-being. A retired attorney, Woodcock said presiding over adoptions was one of the most satisfying aspects of the job.

Woodcock has served as a member of the Judicial Ethics Committee and as vice chairman of the Maine Probate Law Revision Commission.

He also served on the Bangor City Council, in the Maine House of Representatives and in the Maine Senate, where he was majority floor leader during his third term.

If elected, Shalhoob set as her three top priorities: ensuring the humane, legal treatment of the incompetent, such as minors, the elderly and people with mental disabilities; ensuring high fiduciary standards for guardians, conservators, adoptive parents, trustees and personal representatives of estates; and advancing understanding of probate law.

Shalhoob’s private practice specializes in adult and child protective law. Other work experience includes serving as a real estate and probate attorney with the Bangor firm Eaton Peabody, handling Workers’ Compensation and personal injury for Lowry and Associates of Bangor, Portland, Auburn and Lewiston, Biddeford, and working as an adjunct professor of law at Husson College in Bangor.

Her civic involvement includes serving as chairwoman of Bangor’s historic preservation commission and she served on its board of ethics. She also served as a member of Hancock County’s planning commission.