Hancock County probate judge sanctioned but will keep law license

Hancock County’s elected probate judge has been officially sanctioned for failing to pay child support and not filing tax returns, but he will be allowed to continue practicing law on the side.

William Blaisdell IV, 54, appeared in court Friday in York County as a judge approved an agreement between him and the state Board of Overseers of the Bar , which regulates the conduct of licensed lawyers. The agreement allows Blaisdell to continue practicing law as long as he meets his legal obligations, continues to get counseling, and has his legal practice monitored by another licensed Maine attorney approved by the court.

The board and Blaisdell agreed that Matthew Foster — the former district attorney for Hancock and Washington counties who lost re-election in 2022 after the BDN broke the news that he’d previously been investigated on allegations of child sexual abuse — will serve as Blaisdell’s monitor, according to Blaisdell’s attorney, Jeffrey Toothaker.

The new sanction against Blaisdell represents one of several avenues by which he could face consequences for self-inflicted legal problems that stem from his messy divorce in 2019. If he doesn’t resign or otherwise get removed from office, voters would have to wait until his current term ends in 2026 to toss him out.

Justice James Martemucci approved the agreement Friday between the board and Blaisdell. The sanction is a one-year suspension for Blaisdell, but the suspension itself will only go into effect if Blaisdell violates conditions detailed in the agreement.

As part of the agreement, Blaisdell has to have his law practice monitored by another attorney.

That attorney, Foster, lost re-election as district attorney two years ago after it became public that, following his election in 2014, he had been investigated by the state attorney general’s office on allegations of child sexual abuse, but that investigators decided against pressing charges against him. The information came out after Foster denied during a candidate’s forum that he ever had been investigated by the attorney general’s office.

As the monitor of his practice, Foster cannot function as an intermediary between Blaisdell and his clients and will not act as Blaisdell’s attorney, Toothaker said.

Blaisdell also has to pay the costs of his supervision by Foster, file all his overdue tax returns within 90 days, and continue receiving weekly mental health counseling sessions, Toothaker said. Blaisdell has been getting clinical counseling since March, Toothaker said.

Blaisdell’s personal legal troubles spilled into public view in March, after a Waldo County judge found him in contempt of court and threatened to have him jailed for 90 days if he didn’t pay nearly $50,000 in overdue child support to his ex-wife.

Blaisdell came up with the money by the judge’s March 25 deadline but has since been barred from taking any court appointments as a defense attorney. The Maine Commission on Public Defense Services, which oversees the list of attorneys eligible for such appointments, last month suspended Blaisdell from being able to take on new clients in criminal court, according to a commission official.

The Overseers’ investigation into Blaisdell’s conduct is parallel to — but separate from —  another inquiry being conducted by the state Committee on Judicial Conduct, which oversees the conduct of judges in Maine. Blaisdell serves as both, presiding as a part-time probate judge in Hancock County and, when not fulfilling his judicial duties, representing clients in unrelated legal matters.

The Committee on Judicial Conduct has recommended to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that Blaisdell be removed from his elected office, but the high court is still deliberating over what action, if any, it should take. Because Blaisdell is an elected official, the court cannot strip him of his position but can recommend his removal to the Legislature, which does have that power .

Blaisdell told the high court last month that he has been struggling with his physical and mental health, according to the Portland Press Herald . He told the court he could be censured in some way but that he wants to stay on the bench and has no plans to resign, the paper reported.

In March, Judge Patricia Worth found Blaisdell in contempt for not paying court-ordered child-support, noting that he had failed to comply with previous orders dating to 2019. Blaisdell’s divorce from his ex-wife was handled outside Hancock County given his role in its administration.

Worth wrote in the contempt order that at a prior hearing, Blaisdell testified “that despite being a practicing Maine attorney and being the current sitting Hancock County Probate Judge, [he] has not filed his federal or state income taxes for 2022, 2021, 2020 and possibly for 2019.”

Worth also wrote that Blaisdell’s ex-wife had to pay her legal fees with a credit card while waiting for him to pay what he owed.

“She has had a difficult time paying for food, and for gas and repairs for the vehicle she uses to transport the children,” Worth wrote in the document. “She has tried to shield the children from knowledge that her household finances are strained due to their father’s refusals to obey court orders.”

Blaisdell has served as Hancock County’s probate judge for the past decade. After first being elected to the post in 2014, he narrowly won re-election in 2018 and then was re-elected without opposition in 2022.