Georgia Probate Records

The colonial courts kept some early probate records, but few records from the colonial period exist today. From 1777 to 1798 and since 1852, the court of ordinary or register of probates in each county has kept probate and guardianship records. The inferior court handled probate and guardianship matters from 1798 to 1852.

Many probate records to the 1930s and 1940s are at the Georgia Department of Archives and History and the Family History Library on microfilm. The Family History Library, for example, has probate records from Fulton County that include letters of administration, guardianship, executors, inventories and appraisements, bonds, 12-months support, minutes, annual returns and vouchers, bills of sale, and wills. These are generally from the years 1829 to 1930.

Important published indexes of probate records include:

Index to Probate Records of Colonial Georgia, 1733-1778. Atlanta, Georgia: R. J. Taylor, Jr., Foundation, 1983. (FHL book 975.8 P2i.)

Abstracts of Colonial Wills of the State of Georgia, 1733-1777. Spartanburg, South Carolina: The Reprint Company, 1981. (FHL book 975.8 P2a 1981.)

Brooke, Ted O. In the Name of God, Amen: Georgia Wills, 1733-1860: An Index of Testators to Wills. Atlanta, Georgia: Pilgrim Press, 1976. (FHL book 975.8 P2b; film 1036842.)