Penobscot Registry of Probate

11 months ago

Where to even begin. My sister and I began the process of having our step father adopt us in early December. We were given very little and often contradictory information on what paperwork we would need and the timeline of how things would proceed. Phone calls are never returned and the assistant who answers the phones never has any answers to any questions. The woman who is in charge, Rene, is never in the office and does not return phone calls. Fast forward to February we make the adoption official in the court, but they only sent one of our adoption certificates. After MONTHS of calling asking for them to send my sisters (yes I know COVID, but how busy is a probate office in Bangor that you can’t send the adoption certificate for 4 months, really?) finally I get ahold of Rene after probably 10+ calls between the end of Feb-now(mid June) and they finally send my sisters certificate, only for it to be filled out wrong, rendering it useless. She has now been between names for 4 months while trying to begin medical school, move, and many other legal transitions that require having a name but the process of changing over IDs etc has all been stunted because you need this adoption certificate to even begin that process. Rene if you’re reading this, please call me back.

2 years ago

I did a name change for my son. I was upset, because the lady at the hospital lied to me about how to change the name, while i was in the office. The blonde woman was very unsympathetic in the office, and gave me the wrong information several times. After a grueling day dealing with there lack of out of county procedures, I recieved the paper work and my childs middle name was first on it. I called the office to confirm if this was just official procedure(and that his name wasnt wrong) and the woman refused to answer my question or even attempt to understand what i was asking. She kept cutting me off without fully understanding why i was calling. She hung up on me several times because i was trying to make sure she understood my question fully. I asked to speak to a supervisor and whom ever it was claimed that they were. I had to call Bangor PD to have the desk clerk ask my question. They suggested that i go there in persin. I advised that because Im African American, and they already think that Im hostile, that I was afraid that they may call security and i would be wrongfully assaulted. After this experience, i concluded that I needed to move out of Bangor.