Shelby County Probate Judge Allison Boyd works to develop, implement mental health programs

Allison Boyd always knew she wanted to be a lawyer.

She received some advice in high school from a friend’s father, who told her that even though that was her plan, she shouldn’t major in political science.

“He said when you graduate from college, if you don’t want to go to law school, you’ll have a political science degree and nothing to do with that,” Boyd said. “He was kind of right.”

Boyd graduated with her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Samford University in 1999, then went on to obtain her MBA from UAB in 2002.

Before attending law school, she worked at Glenwood Behavioral Health Center as a human resources assistant for two years. That’s where she got her first experience with mental health.

“I had been taking the LSAT and gotten frustrated in HR. Part of the reason was always being told ‘that’s great, but we need to check with our lawyer,’” she said. “That brought me back to reality and back to the path of law school.”

She commuted from Shelby County to law school at the University of Alabama, where she graduated with her Juris Doctorate in 2005. During this time, she spent time clerking for the Shelby County District Attorney’s office. After graduating, she began practicing at Spruell and Powell LLC in Northport, and she and her husband Candler made the move there.

She gained experience in a variety of legal services, including real estate, estate planning, contract disputes, insurance defense, probate, divorce, juvenile court, personal injury, probate law and family law.

“It was wonderful,” she said. “I could not have asked for a better first legal experience or job where two people who took me under their wings and taught me the ropes and threw me in the deep end.”

At the beginning of 2007, Boyd made the move back to Shelby County where she began working as the assistant district attorney in Columbiana.

“I wanted to do anything — tax law, business, but nothing criminal,” Boyd said. “But it turned out to be the best thing ever. It shaped and changed where I thought I was heading. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to think about it; I just started to work, and as soon as I got to the office, I fell in love immediately. When I would turn on the news, that’s what we were working on the next day.”

Over the next nine years, Boyd was responsible for the prosecution of crimes against children and felony crimes of violence. She was also the prosecutor assigned to manage Shelby County’s Drug Court, Mental Health Court and Veteran’s Treatment Court.

She had her son about a year after taking the job, and her daughter would follow 23 months later. Now a mom herself, Boyd was spending most of her time trying cases on child crimes.

“[Having my children], it made me understand a little bit more where the victim’s parents were coming from. A mom once said to me that I didn’t understand because I didn’t have kids. More on an emotional level, you do understand it, relating to the parent and even to the kids.”

Boyd said working in that office was the perfect place and time having a family, because so many others were in the same stage of life.

“It was so nice because other people understood what I was going through,” she said.

Boyd was approached by former Judge Jim Fuhrmeister in 2015, who was creating a position in his office to focus on mental health. She said while this wasn’t something she saw coming, she was up for trying something different. In January 2016, she began her role as the Mental Health Programs coordinator and legal counsel for the Shelby County Probate Office.

“I made a difficult decision to leave the district attorney’s office where I had spent the better part of 10 years doing a job I dearly loved,” she said. “I made that decision because I saw an opportunity to make a difference in my community.”

She said that position was more fulfilling than she ever imagined, and it allowed her to pursue her passion of working with community leaders, first responders and advocates toward creating a better mental health system.

“It was a good marriage of what I had been doing and moving forward on positive change,” she said. “One thing I loved about the Mental Health Court was that the people in programs who did something wrong or were charged with a crime, helping them put the pieces in place, getting the right diagnosis, treatment, medication, a job or finishing school. We weren’t fixing those things, but putting the pieces in place for them to go on so they wouldn’t be back in court.”

Just two years into that role, Judge Fuhrmeister shared with Boyd his intention not to seek reelection for probate judge. She then had to think carefully about making the decision to run for office. She did win the primary in June 2018, beating out her other two competitors.

“I made it through the election season,” she said. “That’s probably the most stress I’ve ever been under.”

As probate judge, Boyd is responsible for the development and implementation of mental health programs for the Shelby County Probate Office. She also reviewed cases and provided legal research and analysis for cases involving guardianships, conservatorships, wills, administrations, condemnations, name changes, adoptions and commitments.

“You’re helping people move forward and not punishing them for crimes of the past,” she said. “It’s more of seeing brightness for the future. That’s what drew me more to mental health.”

During COVID-19, though the courthouse was closed to the public, her office didn’t miss a single day as far as processing things. Many things were able to be done online, and hearings were held over Zoom. She said it may change the way they do things permanently for involuntary commitments, guardianships and conservatorships and nursing home and homebound.

Boyd also volunteers her time serving on several boards, including Central Alabama Wellness, Senior Volunteers and Services, Leadership Shelby County and NAMI Alabama, an advocacy group for mental illness.

Even with her busy schedule, she is thankful to still be able to be involved in her children’s activities, she said. Her son is 12 and attends Berry Middle School, where he plays lacrosse and runs cross-country. Her daughter is 10, attends Greystone Elementary and participates in programs with Red Mountain Theater Company. The family attends Asbury United Methodist Church.

Boyd said her favorite part of her job is her interactions with people. Being able to help when they come to them whether for an adoption, commitment, estate, deed and mortgage records.

“They are coming to us when they’re in need of something, and I love being able to help them and make it an easy process. Getting them the right answer and in and out of court without adding a burden and problem,” she said.

Her goals are to simply to get better at what she is doing and make their offices even better and more user friendly.