By James Wright, Special to the AFRO, jwright@afro.com

One of the most obscure elected positions in Prince George’s County is also one of the most important. Cereta Lee, the Register of Wills, wants to make sure residents understand that.

That is one of the reasons she is seeking a fourth term in the position.

Cereta Lee is the first African American to be Registrar of Wills in Prince George’s County. (Courtesy photo)

“I am running for re-election because I want to continue reaching out to the community and educating residents on the importance of having a will,” Lee told the AFRO. “People work hard to leave a legacy to their heirs and I want to make sure that they do that.”

The duties of the Prince George’s County Register of Wills are to file wills that are presented to the office in a discretionary manner; make sure that the decedent’s wishes in the will are carried out; heirs, legatees and creditors are notified about what they will receive when a person dies and a will is filed and serves as the collector for the state of Maryland regarding taxes and fees that apply. Lee notes that wills of living people are kept with the office and aren’t public records.

In addition, Lee said her office doesn’t give legal advice or prepare wills. “You have to go to an attorney for those things,” she said.

Lee has a bachelor of business administration from Strayer University and is a retired manager with Verizon. She also served as an executive assistant to Maryland Del. Michael Jackson (D-District 27B) when he was the sheriff of Prince George’s County.

In 2006, Lee was the first African American elected as the county’s Register of Wills.

Lee said that residents come first in her office. “I love helping people,” she said. “Each year, I attend 65-70 events a year going out to civic association meetings, club meetings and various events explaining to people what I do.

Lee’s goal is to make sure residents have an easy experience when dealing with her office. She has worked to increase her office’s capabilities such as implementing credit-card payments and being able to conduct office matters online.

Lee said when she talks with county residents they tend to ask the same questions no matter where she is. “They say to me that I’m going to do my will, what do I do,” she said. “I tell them to get an attorney and file their will with our office for safekeeping. ”

Lee said when she hires new employees they take classes in professionalism and courtesy. One of the classes deal with customer service and the other is how to deal with difficult people.

Lee faces Toya Fasakin in the June 26 Democratic Primary. The winner of that contest will likely be the next Register of Wills because there is no Republican opponent in the Nov. 6 general election.