Hertfordshire Probate Records

England  Hertfordshire

Getting Started

Probate is the legal court process by which the estate of a deceased person is distributed to his or her heirs. Probate records include wills and administrations. This article is about probate records in Hertfordshire. For a general description of England probate records, click here.

1858 to the Present

Beginning in 1858, the Principal Probate Registry had the authority for probating estates. Click on the link to learn more.

Before 1858

Before 1858, Church of England ecclesiastical courts had authority for this process. To search for a pre-1858 probate record in Hertfordshire, follow these steps:

Step 1. Search Indexes

Here are some online indexes to probate records that include individuals who lived in Hertfordshire. Search these indexes first:

• http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/database/SussexFHGprobate.shtml -- compiled by the Sussex Family History Group which has transcribed the names of 12,300 individuals found in Sussex wills, including testators, executors, beneficiaries or witnesses. The information recorded includes name, date and place.
• The Sussex Record Society has published four volumes of indexes to Sussex wills, and these can be viewed on their website. They are arranged by parish then by surname. 
• Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills (1384-1858).

Did you find a reference to a probate record?

• If yes, go to Step 4 below.
• If no, go to Step 2 below.

Step 2. Identify when and where your ancestor died

Determine when your ancestor died. If you aren't sure, use an approximate date. 

Determine where your ancestor died. It is easier to find a probate record if you know whether the place where your ancestor lived or died is a parish. To learn whether it is a parish, look it up in a gazetteer. Here is a link to the 1872 Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales online:

• Vision of Britain

The gazetteer will either tell you:

• A place is a parish, or
• What parish it is a part of, or
• What place it is near.

If the latter, look that place up in the gazetteer and see if it is a parish.

Once you have identified the parish, go to Step 3.

Step 3. Identify court jurisdictions by parish

Once you have identified the parish where your ancestor lived or died, learn which courts had jurisdiction over it then search indexes for those courts. Every town and parish in Sussex fell under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and several secondary courts. Click on a link below for the letter the parish begins Before 1858, every town and parish in Hertfordshire was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary ecclesiastical court and one or more secondary ecclesiastical courts.

To see a list of Hertfordshire places and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them, click on a letter link:

A   B   C-G   H-L   M-S   T-Z   

Hertfordshire Probate Courts

The following ecclesiastical courts had some pre-1858 probate jurisdiction within the county. Click on a court name for information about records and indexes.

• Court of the Archdeaconry of Buckingham
• Court of the Archdeaconry of St. Albans
• Court of the Archdeaconry of Middlesex
• Court of the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon (Herts/Hitchen div.)
• Court of the Archdeaconry of Huntingdon (Hunts div.)
• Court of the Bishop of Lincoln (Episcopal Consistory)
• Court of the Bishop of London (Episcopal Consistory)
• Court of the Peculiar of the Dean and Chapter of St. Paul's Cathedral
• Court of the Commissary of the Bishop of London (Essex and Herts div.)

In addition, the Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury had jurisdiction over the whole of England and specifically in the following cases.

• Wealthy individuals
  
• Interregnum, 1649-1660, because the Prerogative Court was the only court.
• Property in more than one diocese in the Province of Canterbury.
• Property in both the Province of Canterbury and Province of York.
• People who died outside England, including British citizens and others who held property in England.

Appeals Courts

Any probate that was disputed and could not be settled by the county courts could be sent to these higher appeals courts:

• Court of Arches
• High Court of Delegates

The Prerogative Court of the Archbishop of Canterbury also served as an appeals court.

Probate Indexes

Before looking for a will, you should search an index.

Online Indexes

County-wide general will indexes exist for Hertford County, but there are none available online indexes at this time.

Printed and Manuscript Indexes

Printed indexes to wills at the Hertfordshire Record Office:

• The Hertford Record Office hold manuscript indexes and calendars of probate records. Contact their office for further details regarding their collections
• Beryl Crawley and Cliff Webb, ed. Wills at Hertford. London 2007, the British Record Society. (FHL book 942 B4b vol. 120. The Hertford County Record Office wills indexing project under the auspices of the above authors on behalf of the Index Library compiled by far the most comprehensive wills index for Hertfordshire; available at the British Record Society website.

Printed indexes to Hertfordshire wills (a few) held in the Essex County Record Office:

•  Emmison, F. G., ed.  [Index to] Wills at Chelmsford. London: s.n., 1961, the British Record Society. (FHL book 942 B4b vols. 78, 79 and 84; also on microfilms 0962739 and 0962740, and on microfiche 6073796, 6073797, and 6073802.)

Other printed indexes may be found listed on the court pages. Click on the court name links above.

Estate Duty Records

Starting in 1796, a tax or death duty was payable on estates over a certain value. Estate duty abstracts may add considerable information not found elsewhere.  Estate duty indexes may help locate a will. For more information, go to Estate Duty Records.

Probates After 1857

Beginning in 1858, the government took over the settlement of estates and all wills are now probated through the Principal Probate Registry system. For more information, go to Principal Probate Registry.

Family History Library (FHL); now called, FamilySearch Library (FSL)