Perry Lund

ESCANABA — Perry Lund became the probate judge-elect for Delta County after running for the position unopposed. Lund will be sworn into his new position as probate judge Thursday by his mentor Robert Goebel, the current probate judge.

After 40 years of being the probate judge for Delta County, Goebel will retire on Jan. 1. With Goebel’s retirement, Lund becomes Delta County’s 11th probate judge.

Lund said he knows he has big shoes to fill, but feels confident because of his experience of working with Goebel for around 19 years.

“Judge Goebel, hands down — he is the best judge in the state of Michigan. He is the best mentor you could have in the state of Michigan. He doesn’t legislate from the bench, he follows the Constitution and he does what’s right,” Lund said.

Lund explained his hope is to continue the work Goebel has done for the county.

“Based on working with and for Judge Goebel for the past 19 years I feel I am up for the challenge,” he said. “I couldn’t have had any better training.”

As a Gladstone native, Lund graduated from Gladstone High School in 1983 before going to Northern Michigan University where he earned bachelor’s degrees in criminal justice and political science pre-law. After graduating from NMU, Lund attended Thomas Cooley Law School in Lansing and graduated in 1995.

Lund stayed in Lansing for a while before returning to the Upper Peninsula. He worked at the Olsen Filoramo Garvi and McNamara Law Firm in Escanaba for around five years when Goebel reached out to Lund to do court appointed work for the probate court.

In January of 2000, Lund accepted a position with the Delta County Probate Court as a juvenile probation officer. Lund said he made the transition in his career because he wanted to serve the neglected, abused and delinquent population in Delta County.

Lund has been the juvenile referee hearing officer for the past 16 years after being appointed to the position by Goebel.

As the juvenile referee, Lund explained he has conducted over 10,000 hearings. Those hearings include everything from inquiries to conducting bench trials.

“I’ve got a lot of judicial experience,” Lund said. “I think the transition will be smooth.”

The only thing Lund can’t do as a juvenile referee hearing officer that a probate judge can is conduct a jury trial. Only elected judges can handle jury trial proceedings.

Lund explained how he started learning the ropes of probate court when he became a juvenile probation officer and worked his way up to the juvenile referee position.

“I kind of learned it from the bottom up,” Lund said. “Which is normally not the way a probate judge ends up on the bench.”

He said usually they’ve been on the outside of the probate system, end up running for the judgeship, then come in and learn the inner workings of the system when they start.

“I started learning (probate court procedures) back in 2000,” Lund said. “I’ve got quite the bit of experience of probate court.”