The Mad Genealogist

Probate records include a variety of documents created to support court proceedings in the settlement of an individuals’ estates. The number and type of probate records created may vary over time in different jurisdictions and due to the amount of real and personal property involved. The various documents generated in the probate process are rarely filed together.

Probate records may consist of one or more of the following court-generated documents: will and associated records, letters testamentary, orders, appointment(s) of administrator(s) or executor(s), letters of administration, bonds, inventory, estate sale(s), guardianship, claims, list of heirs, petitions, accounts, releases, claims, dower apportionments, widow’s one-year support, commissioners’ reports, receipts, judgments, and division of property. Probate records are among the most important of genealogical records because they can identify families and provide proof of relationships— information that is absent or only implied in most other original records. Published probate records frequently provide faster access. These printed materials can provide pertinent genealogical information and can serve as finding aids to original documents.

Records associated with probate proceedings and estate settlements frequently furnish the details needed to document a lineage, and they often name family members and state the testator’s (person making the will) relationship to each. Therefore, wills and accompanying probate records, whether original or published, are valuable tools for the genealogist.

Probate records can contain an abundance of genealogical data or can be disappointing depending on a number of circumstances: whether the testator included many or few details about his property and relatives, whether the estate was contested by the heirs, whether there was a sizeable estate, whether a person who died without a will had debts requiring the sale of his property, and whether or not the records generated can be found.