Durham Probate Records: Difference between revisions

== <br>Getting Started  ==

To ''probate'' is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. The Church of England ecclesiastical courts had authority for this process prior to 1858. To look for a probate record before this time:

1. Discover when and where your ancestor died. If you don’t know, use the approximate date and place where they lived.<br> 2. Go to a list of courts that had authority over a place. It's called a jurisdictions table.<br> 3. Click a letter or span of letters to see the table. The letters are below in the section called '''Court Jurisdictions'''.<br> 4. Start a search in the court named in the first column, labeled Primary Court.<br> 5. Click on the name of a court to learn more about finding and using its records.

Beginning in 1858, authority over probate matters was taken from ecclesiastical courts and put under the civil authority of the Principal Probate Registry. The '''Post-1857 Probate Records''' section below contains links to additional information about the records of this court.