William Avantaggio (Johnathan Riley photo)
Lincoln County Judge of Probate William Avantaggio, D-Bremen, faces an uncontested election for a third term of overseeing issues such as name changes, guardianships, trust modification and interpretations, estates, conservatorships, adoptions, and estates.
Avantaggio said that the issues he deals with in probate court are generally things that don’t require much deliberation from him. However, some of the issues that people go to probate court for, such as adoptions, are memorable experiences.
“People come in and adopt a child and everyone leaves happy to bring family members to take pictures with the judge. That’s the fun stuff,” he said.
Avantaggio decided to first run for the position in 2016 when his predecessor, Thomas Berry, took him to lunch. Berry, who served as Lincoln County’s judge of probate from 1988 until 2016, suggested Avantaggio consider pursuing the office.
“It probably wouldn’t have occurred to me, but he took me to lunch and said ‘You should do this job, you would be good at this,’” Avantaggio said. “I had familiarity with it enough to not feel like I was perpetuating a fraud by saying I should go be a judge of this.”
Avantaggio said prior to being elected as Lincoln County’s judge of probate in 2016 he had been a contract attorney for the attorney general’s office when they needed someone to represent United States Department of Health and Human Services in guardianship cases.
Avantaggio grew up in Damariscotta and attended Lincoln Academy before he earned a degree in philosophy from St. Lawrence University in New York. He then attended University of Maine School of Law and has practiced law in Lincoln County since 1994. While fulfilling his role as Lincoln County Judge of Probate, Avantaggio runs his own law firm, which he’s had in Newcastle since 2002, specializing in general litigation, criminal law, and family law.
Avantaggio served on the Probate and Trust Law Advisory Committee, as the probate court appointee to the State of Maine Judicial Branch’s Advisory Committee on Judicial Ethics. He is the president of the Maine Assembly of Probate Judges.
When Avantaggio isn’t tending to his duties as judge of probate or his private practice, he’s enjoying the Damariscotta River in his boat or headed to a local gig to play with his band.
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
