England Probate Records: Difference between revisions

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*[https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate Find a will or probate document (England and Wales), 1858-present]

*{{RecordSearch|2451051|England and Wales, National Index of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1957}} — index

*[http://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/bank-of-england-wills-extracts-1717-1845 Bank Of England Wills Extracts 1717-1845] ($)

*[http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1904 England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995] ($)

*[https://search.findmypast.com/search-world-Records/probate-calendars-of-england-and-wales-1858-1959 Probate Calendars Of England & Wales 1858-1959] ($), index  

*[http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Online_Probate_Indexes The National Archives online Probate Indexes]

*[https://www.findmypast.co.uk/articles/world-records/search-all-uk-records/birth-marriage-death--and-parish-records/wills-and-probate Wills and Probate] ($)

*[http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1610 UK, Extracted Probate Records, 1269-1975] ($)

*[http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/wills-1384-1858/ Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Wills 1384-1858]

'''Help Resources'''

*For countywide links to online and other indexes, and step by steps, see wiki.familysearch.org under county name, and "Probate records"

*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/wills-or-administrations-before-1858/ The National Archives: Wills or administrations before 1858]

*[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/wills-or-administrations-after-1858/ The National Archives: Wills or administrations after 1858]

'''FamilySearch Help Center Lessons'''

*[https://familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/455 England Probate Records 1350-2014 Part 1]

*[https://familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/456 England Probate Records Part 2]

*[https://familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/380 England Estate Duty III: Locate and Obtain the Record]

Probate records are court records dealing with the distribution of a person’s estate after death. Information recorded may include the death date, names of heirs, family members, and guardians, relationships, residences, inventories of the estate (including trade and household goods), and names of witnesses.  

Probate records are very useful for family historians because:  

*They were recorded much earlier than birth, marriage, and death registration.

While probate records are one of the most accurate sources of genealogical evidence, they must be used with caution. For example, they may:  

*Give inaccurate relationships of people mentioned in the document

'''Will'''. Technically, a will conveys real (immovable) property to heirs after an individual’s death. A registered will is an official copy made by a court clerk. Click [[England Probate Records: Sample of Will|'''here''']] to see a sample Will.  

'''Bond'''. A bond is a written guarantee that a person will faithfully perform the tasks assigned to him by a probate court. The executor posted a testamentary bond, the administrator posted an administration bond, and the guardian of a minor child posted a bond of tuition or curation. Click [[England Probate Records: Sample of a Bond|'''here''']] to see a sample of a Bond.  

The keeping of wills and probate documents began as early as the eleventh century, but there are few records before 1400. Probates were handled by the ecclesiastical courts until 1858.  

'''1858 to present: ''' The Principal Probate Registry (PPR), a civil government service, replaced all earlier probate courts. <br>  

The English system historically has allowed a portion of a person’s property to be divisible by will or testament. That portion changed over time according to circumstances, locality, and number of surviving heirs. For example, the unrestricted right to dispose of personal property by will was granted in the province of York in 1693, and widow’s third (a widow’s right to one-third of her husband’s estate) was barred in 1833.  

Until 1833 real property could be "entailed." This specified how property would be inherited in the future. An entail prevented subsequent inheritors from bequeathing the property to anyone except the heirs specified in the original entail.  

When a father or widow died leaving minor children, relatives usually took the children without court sanction. Sometimes the court appointed a guardian or curator to look after the children’s interests until they were 21. If a child was under marriageable age (12 for girls and 14 for boys), guardianship was called "tuition." If the child was of marriageable age but under 21, it was called "curation." See [[Guardianship Bonds in England and Wales|Guardianship Bonds in England and Wales]].  

ENGLAND, [COUNTY], [CITY or PARISH] - ORPHANS AND ORPHANAGES

Critical to researching English aristocracy is the understanding of primogeniture. The word defines the rights of inheritance for the aristocracy. Tradition usually followed included that the first surviving son is the only child who can inherit both title and property. If his father was a Sir, Earl, Lord, Baron, etc., this son becomes the holder of the title upon his father's death. The second born son could be seen often serving as an officer in the military. A second son did not usually accede to title or property unless his elder brother dies intestate.  

Daughters could inherit property, although this did not occur often. Essentially, daughters could only inherit if there were no surviving male heirs and the property was not entailed; all surviving daughters would inherit the property together as co-heiresses.<ref>"The law of inheritance." ''Mapping the Medieval Countryside: Properties, Places & People''. http://www.inquisitionspostmortem.ac.uk/contexts/the-law-of-inheritance/. Accessed 18 December 2018.</ref> Entail (also known as fee tail) was a way in which property and title was passed intact in a pre-determined chain of succession. If no sons survived, the property and title would pass to the nearest male descendant. This way, the estate would remain whole instead of being divided.<ref>Wikipedia contributors, "Fee tail," in ''Wikipedia: the Free Encyclopedia'', https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fee_tail, accessed 18 December 2018.</ref> The title could be transferred as well, but only if that relative was also of the nobility. One way a daughter could be involved was if she were to marry that relative who was entailed.

Usually the location of the deceased’s property determined which court had jurisdiction (see "Determining the Court" in this article). The probate process began by presenting the will to the court. The court recorded a probate act authorizing executors to carry out the provisions of the will. The original will was endorsed and filed in the court’s records. A handwritten copy was given to the executors. (Before 1600 the executors may have received the original.) The clerk may also have copied the will in a book of registered wills.  

The fees charged for the proving of a will and the taxes levied on the estate of the deceased are discussed at [[Probate Fees and Valuations in England and Wales|Probate Fees and Valuations in England and Wales]].  

Prior to 1858 the Church of England probated the estates of deceased persons. There were over 300 church probate courts in a hierarchy of jurisdiction and importance. A higher court had jurisdiction when the testator owned property within the jurisdiction of two or more lower courts. Usually the court with primary jurisdiction probated the will, but wealth, status, and convenience could have affected which court was used. The hierarchy of jurisdictions is as follows:  

Records of the Court of Arches start in 1660. Many of this court’s records are available on microfiche and are indexed in The Index Library. (Family History Library book {{FHL|942 B4b|disp=942 B4b}}, v. 85.)<br>

There are three steps to locating probate records.  

*The [https://www.familysearch.org/ask/learningViewer/455 England Probate Records 1350-2014 Part 1] training video will help you understand probates.

You are looking for a pre-1858 probate record for one of your ancestors, which could be a will or an administration with related documents. The information you will find varies from record to record. The records may provide:  

*An inventory of the deceased's personal property.

There maybe several probate courts having jurisidiction in an English county. Articles in this Wiki will tell you how to discover the names of the courts having jurisdiction over your place, and details about the records. To find one of these articles, type the title (name of the county) Probate Records in the search box. For example, if you want to learn about probates in Cumberland, search for the title Cumberland Probate Records.  

Call numbers for the records in the Family History Library can be found in the library's catalog. For a current listing of probate records and indexes, follow these instructions.  

#The description of the record will appear including the call number of the source whether it is microfilm, microfiche, CD, or book. Sometimes the record will be digitized or electronic and there will be a note saying click here to view it online. <br>

Ecclesiastical jurisdictions, which help determine the court, are given in Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of England (see the [[England Gazetteers|Gazetteers]] article) and Frank Smith’s ''A Genealogical Gazetteer of England''.  

Indexes to testators have been published for most probate jurisdictions in England. The [[Family History Library]] and [[Society of Genealogists Library]] have most published indexes in their collections. Many of these books are available online.  

For more information, see sections below: Indexes; and Finding Records in the Family History Library.

Starting in 1796, a tax or death duty was payable on many estates with a certain value. Read more about Death or [[Estate Duty Registers|Estate Duty Wills]].  

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