CCC: 2020-05 Deposit Will Audit – Dated September 17, 2020
Summary
The Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller's Department of Inspector General conducted Audit Report No. 2020-05, an audit of the Deposit Will Process within the Civil Courts Probate Division, as of January 22, 2020 (paused March 23–July 6, 2020 due to COVID-19). The audit evaluated whether internal controls over the deposit will process were adequate to ensure accurate case management data, compliance with Florida Statutes, and safeguarding of records against inaccurate entry or premature destruction.
The audit identified six opportunities for improvement spanning both compliance and control deficiencies. Issues included staff at both the Dade City and New Port Richey locations deviating from documented procedures, policies that were incomplete or outdated, an ineffective segregation of duties in the verification process, operational inconsistencies between the two locations, a mismatch between the documented verification frequency and actual practice, and a failure to maintain documentation of pre-destruction will verification. All six findings were concurred with by management, who committed to corrective action plans targeting implementation by October 1, 2020.
6 findings
- Finding 1mediumpolicy
Staff noncompliance with deposit will intake procedures identified
At the Dade City location, intake clerks entered each decedent as a new person in the system rather than updating matching existing records with the date of death as required by the Deposit Will procedure. At the New Port Richey location, if a CP (probate) case for the decedent already existed, clerks placed the will directly into that case instead of creating a separate DW case as required. Both practices deviated from the documented intake procedure.
Recommendation: Since compliance with agreements, contracts, laws, rules, regulations, policies, and procedures is expected, a formal recommendation was not provided beyond the expectation of compliance.Management response: Management concurs with the finding. Management discussed issues with the team and will follow through to ensure compliance with business procedures and consistency between Dade City and New Port Richey. Addressed immediately. - Finding 2mediumpolicy
Policies and procedures incomplete and missing key process steps
The existing policies and procedures for deposit will intake, verification, and probating processes contained limited guidance and did not reflect numerous key steps observed and described by the Probate team. Missing documentation spanned the intake stage (e.g., verifying will originality, handling mailed wills lacking required information), the docketing stage (e.g., who is responsible for scanning, combining pages, checking in images), the verification stage (e.g., envelope labeling, barcode affixing, error discussion with intake clerk), and the post-deposit will process (e.g., associating DW and CP cases, recording with Official Records, handling ancillary documents). Without comprehensive procedures, consistent and correct handling of wills across teammates and locations could not be assured.
Recommendation: Update, revise, and make additions to the documented policies and procedures to adequately safeguard and promote consistency of the deposit will process, verification, and probating, addressing all items identified. Communicate revisions to teammates.Management response: Management concurs with the recommendation. The team will work on resolving inconsistencies. Business procedures will be updated to include the verification and transferring processes. Corrective action includes revising procedures and providing training to all teammates responsible for processing deposit wills, targeting October 1, 2020. - Finding 3highpolicy
Segregation of duties not enforced in deposit will verification process
At the Dade City location, the same person who inputted a deposit will into Clericus was permitted to verify their own work, provided they waited 24 hours, because the documented procedures did not explicitly require a separate teammate to perform verification. Additionally, the Deposit Will Verification procedure allowed the verifier to make corrections as necessary, which effectively eliminated the segregation of duty control over data entered by the intake clerk. These gaps created risk of undetected errors or irregularities in case records.
Recommendation: Revise the existing verification procedure to include a clear policy promoting segregation of duties: prohibit the teammate who completed intake from verifying their own work, and prohibit the verifier from making changes to intake data. Communicate revisions to all teammates.Management response: Management concurs with the recommendation. Business procedure will be revised to clearly reflect a division of duties in docketing and verification, with functions completed by different teammates. Training will be provided upon completion, targeting October 1, 2020. - Finding 4mediumpolicy
Processing inconsistencies identified between Dade City and New Port Richey locations
Multiple operational inconsistencies were found between the two Probate locations. For wills received by mail without required information, Dade City returned the will to the sender while New Port Richey held it in a department safe. For verification documentation, Dade City used docket code 1567 in Clericus while New Port Richey did not use any docket code. Dade City imposed a 24-hour wait before verification while New Port Richey had no such waiting requirement. For case linking, Dade City linked caveat or trust-related case numbers while New Port Richey linked only the DW case to the new CP case. For will transfers, Dade City saved and uploaded a PDF to the File and Serve system while New Port Richey uploaded the image directly from the DW case to the CP case in Clericus.
Recommendation: Revise, update, and add to existing policies and procedures to provide uniform guidance for all steps in the deposit will process, ensuring consistency across the Office. Communicate revisions to teammates.Management response: Management concurs with the recommendation. Business procedure will be updated to address missteps on processing wills and inconsistencies will be communicated to the team. Training will follow, targeting October 1, 2020. - Finding 5lowpolicy
Documented verification frequency inconsistent with actual staff practice
The Deposit Will Verification procedure specified that verification was to occur weekly, every Friday. However, teammates interviewed stated that verification occurred within two to three days of receiving and entering the will into Clericus, and no one indicated they verified only on Fridays. The disconnect between the documented frequency and actual practice meant the written procedure did not accurately reflect or govern the workflow.
Recommendation: Revise the verification frequency policy to reflect a timeframe that is practical and consistent with the actual workflow and lifecycle of the deposit will process.Management response: Management concurs with the recommendation. The business procedure will be revised to reflect clear instruction on verification timing. The corrective action plan is to modify the procedure to reflect correct language for the verification schedule and provide training to teammates, targeting October 1, 2020. - Finding 6highevidence
No documentation maintained for pre-destruction deposit will verification
Management indicated that a random 10% sample of deposited wills meeting their retention date was verified prior to destruction; however, no documentation was maintained to support that this verification requirement was actually completed. The IG team was therefore unable to confirm the verification occurred. Furthermore, the Probate division had no documented procedures providing detailed guidance on how to conduct the pre-destruction verification or how to maintain supporting documentation of the sample reviewed.
Recommendation: Create a separate written procedure for the Probate team describing the steps required to verify 10% of deposited wills that have met their retention date (including wills transferred to CP estate files), and require that documentation from the verification process be maintained to evidence completion of the requirement.Management response: Management concurs with the recommendation to create a separate business procedure for this task. A business procedure will be created prior to the actual verification process, training will be provided to responsible teammates, and the procedure will be modified as needed during implementation. Target implementation date: October 1, 2020.