Family Court Judge Howard I. Lipsey will retire at the end of the month after 15 years on the bench, bringing to four the number of vacancies in the state courts.

But he won’t go far. Lipsey intends to continue his judicial duties four days a week beginning at the start of the new year.

“I will still be doing what I love to do,” Lipsey said yesterday in his office at the J. Joseph Garrahy Judicial Complex. “So Mondays will be my day off.”

Lipsey said he is retiring because it makes financial sense to stop paying into the state retirement program and the Social Security system. On senior status, he will continue to get health benefits, as allowed by state law, because he will be seated at least 10 days each month, he said. But he will not receive pay beyond his pension, which will be 100 percent of his salary — $150,933 a year.

“My hobbies have always been work and primarily the law,” he said.

Appointed by Gov. Bruce G. Sundlun in 1993, Lipsey, 72, has overseen hundreds of sticky divorce and custody cases during his years on the bench. He said he became interested in becoming a judge out of the desire to “make a difference.” He named as an accomplishment implementing continuous trials for contested divorces in Family Court.

Lipsey, a Providence native, is a graduate of Providence College and the Georgetown University Law Center. He is active in the Rhode Island and American bar associations.

Prior to his appointment, Lipsey handled high-profile divorce as a private practitioner with the Providence law firm of Lipsey and Skolnik. He represented former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr.’s ex-wife, Sheila, in their divorce and handled former U.S. Rep. Claudine Schneider’s 1985 divorce.

Lipsey’s retirement will create the fourth vacancy on the bench, following yesterday’s surprise resignation of state Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank J. Williams. Governor Carcieri has still to make nominations to the Senate for openings in District and Superior Courts.

In July, the Judicial Nominating Commission recommended five candidates for the District Court opening created by the retirement of Judge Walter Gorman last March. They include Joseph A. DiPietro, J. Terence Houlihan Jr., Laura A. Pisaturo, Margaret M. Lynch-Gadaleta and Paul D. Ragosta.

That same month, the commission chose five finalists for the Superior Court vacancy resulting from Judge Vincent A. Ragosta’s retirement in May. They include Fausto C. Anguilla, Stephen M. Isherwood, Henry S. Monti, George M. Muksian and James V. Murray.

Carcieri’s spokeswoman, Amy Kempe, said yesterday that the governor is interviewing candidates and reviewing their paperwork. She had no idea when the governor would make a nomination, she said.

“There is a very long, very thorough process,” Kempe said.

Judgeships are lifetime appointments with base salaries of about $132,000 to $133,000. Under a law he pushed for, Carcieri may choose from any list of court finalists generated over the previous five years.

The deadline to apply for Lipsey’s post is Jan. 14. The commission expects to forward three to five names for Carcieri’s consideration by March 1, said commission Chairman Stephen J. Carlotti.

kmulvane@projo.com