Wisconsin Probate Records

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Probate records are court records created after an individual’s death that relate to a court’s decisions regarding the distribution of the estate to the heirs or creditors and the care of any dependents. These documents are important to family history researchers because they usually exist for time periods before civil birth and death records were kept. While probate records are one of the most accurate sources of genealogical evidence, they have limitations.

Jurisdictions

In the territorial era, probate records were kept by probate courts. These files were eventually transferred to the clerk of the circuit court, where current records are also kept. You may obtain probate records by contacting the office of the clerk of circuit court.

 The Family History Library at www.familysearch.org has microfilm copies of probate files and indexes from some Wisconsin counties and is continuing to acquire additional records. For example, Milwaukee County microfilms include probate packets from 1850–1910 (on 1,097 Family History Library films beginning with film 1020046), wills and estates from 1838–1923 with an index (on 107 films beginning with film 1023331), and a general card index for 1838–1915 (on 73 films beginning with film 1292413).