Tara DeCristofaro
Middlesex County Register of Probate

Admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1997

Former Assistant District Attorney in Middlesex County

Prosecuted criminal child support and neglect cases

Worked with the Department of Revenue on enforcing child support orders

Administrative Assistant Register in the Middlesex County Probate & Family
Court since 2003

Supervisor on the Floor of the Registry. Overseeing personnel and handling all staffing issues.

Work with staff to provide attentive, accurate service within the Policies of the Trial Court and the Rules of Civil Procedure.

Work with Union employees to insure that they are reclassified up to a position that is consistent with their job duties.

Oversaw the creation and staffing of the Family Law Information Center at the Middlesex Probate & Family Court to assist pro se (unrepresented) litigants and victims of domestic abuse.

Point person at the Registry for the implentation of the Individual Calendar System, identifying over 1000 cases that were awaiting Court dates and clearing up this enormous backlog.

In coordination with the First Justice, piloted Next Event Scheduling in Middlesex County, which has now become the standard for all Counties and the creation of Judge Assignment Calendars.

Monitored case processing to insure no case left the courthouse without either being resolved or rescheduled, and trained Court personnel on computerized scheduling.

Headed up a team to sort and catalog the large depository of exhibits and transcripts, instituting a tracking system for identification and accessibility.

Member of the Committee on Time Standards and responsible for training all Registry personnel in the requirements of this new Standing Order.

Responsible for initiating the bar coding and scanning of Court documents in Middlesex County as a precursor
to the roll-out of an online access system for all Court records.

Member of the Committee for the Probate and Family Court Department, responsible for the set up and roll out of the MassCourts system that will be replacing our current program, BasCOT.

Trained personnel in two other Counties on the MassCourts system and currently the only expert on this system within Middlesex County.

Worked with the Middlesex County Probate and Family Court Oureach Program that was developed and funded last year to provide information to communities in Middlesex County about probate and family law issues and processes.