Probate Records: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:58, 9 August 2023

Guide to locating probate records for ancestry, family history, and genealogy research.

To access probate records for a specific county use the links to country pages below.

Probate is the legal process distributing real estate (property) and personal estate (possessions) to a person's heirs.
Testate is the term used when a will existed. Intestate means there was no will, and the court administers and distributes the estate.
Other documents may be found in the full probate packet.
Probate records are available for only about 10% of families, usually landowners and the wealthy. Most farmers, merchants, and artisans did not own their own farms or shops and did not leave wills.
Probate records often pre-date other birth and death records.
Wills are found in the town or county where the person lived when the will was made or where they died.

Information recorded may include:

Probate records are kept on the county level for most of the United States and any online records will be found in the corresponding county Wiki pages.
For general information about probate records, see United States Probate Records
United States Wills and Deeds Experimental Search at FamilySearch - try this index to probate records for the United States.
Select a State then go to the clickable map to select the county your ancestor died in.

Probate records are kept on the county or district level for most of Canada and any online records.
For general information about probate records, see Canada Probate Records
Select a province then go to the clickable map to select the county or district your ancestor died in.

Probate records are kept on the county for British Isles countries.
Select a country then go to the clickable map to select the county your ancestor died in.

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 *Probate records often pre-date other birth and death records.
 *Wills are '''found in the town or county''' where the person lived when the will was made or where they died.
-*Depending on the country, probate records can be found online as digital images. For the United States, an experimental index of many county probate records is available to search.
-:*[https://www.familysearch.org/search/textprototype/ United States Wills and Deeds Experimental Search] at FamilySearch
 ==What can you find in probate records?==