Probate records.
Probate records are not something which we at The Probate Department are involved in (so please don’t ring us!) If you want to obtain copies of Last Wills or Grants of Probate click the link. Hopefully, you will find this article helpful. See also how to obtain a copy Will and Grant.
Information from Probate records and family history can provide vital pieces of the genealogical puzzle. Although often not as useful as records of births, marriages and deaths, which can evidence crucial links to previous generations, they can provide evidence of relatedness within generations, and often contain fascinating insights into the financial affairs of people in times past.
Probate is a process whereby some person or persons, usually the executor(s) of a Will if there was one, or one or more of the next-of-kin if there was no Will, are appointed in law to administer the estate of someone who has died.
This is usually only necessary if the deceased person left fairly substantial assets, so don’t expect to find any Probate records relating to the estate of a person who had little or no estate of their own.
The Probate concept of ‘estate’ refers just to assets held in the sole name of the person who has died, and so Probate isn’t necessary for the release of assets held jointly with another person. When an application for Probate is made, any Will that the deceased person left must be submitted to the Probate Registry.
The Will, if judged to be valid, is thereafter kept on file, and it is normally possible for anyone to obtain a copy of it. There are exceptions, however, such as the Wills of members of the Royal family. The important point is that Wills are available from the Probate Registries only as a by-product of the Probate process: if Probate wasn’t needed, then the Probate Registries have no probate records of the estate at all.
You should bear in mind that the Probate records, if any, will be dated some time after the date of death of the person concerned, so start searching from the year of death, or the year in which you think the person died. You should normally expect to find the Probate record within the first year or two after the date of death, and, if you have not found it within three, you can usually assume that Probate wasn’t necessary.
However, in a very small number of cases, Probate is granted many years after the person in question died. Take a tip from the professionals: if you don’t find a probate record within the first few years, the next most likely time to search is the year in which their heir(s) died. This is because unadministered estate is most likely to come to light at that time.
How far you want to go with the search will probably depend on how crucial the person in question is to your research, but there is as yet no shortcut: you will have to search the index for each year separately.
Control of Probate record-keeping passed from the Church to the state in 1858, at which point the records were unified into one Calendar index. These indexes, which summarise all Probate grants for England and Wales during a given year, act as a table of contents for the vast store of records held by the Probate Registries. If the subject of your research died before 1858, it will be more difficult to trace their Will.
However, if they were very wealthy or owned a lot of land, consult the indexes of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC) first, and then those of the lesser ecclesiastical courts of the region in which they lived.
PCC records are held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU Tel: 020 8392 5330.
But records of the lesser ecclesiastical Probate courts are highly dispersed. Try the local authority archives, such as public libraries and County Record Offices of the appropriate region, and also any local historical research institutes. Major ecclesiastical centres are also likely to have their own archives.
The Probate Registry Directory lists the Calendar indexes held by the various Probate Registries in England and Wales. You can usually call in to consult the indexes, but check with the Registry concerned first, especially if you intend to travel any distance.
Probate grants for each year are listed alphabetically by surname. The crucial parts of the Probate record are the Grant type, which is usually ‘Probate’, ‘Administration’ or ‘Administration with Will’, the issuing Registry, and the grant issue date.
They are normally written in sequence towards the end of the index entry, but the older books give the grant date first and highlight the issuing Registry in the text of the entry. The grant type can be inferred from the text, but note that the indexes prior to 1871 listed the ‘Administration’ grants in a separate part of the book from the ‘Probate’ and ‘Administration with Will’ grants, so be sure to search in both places for years prior to this.
In addition, there may be a handwritten number next to entries for Wills proved in the Principal Probate Registry (London) between 1858 and 1930. This is the Folio number, which is used by the Probate Registries when obtaining copies of the Will. Always make a note of this if applicable.
If the grant type is ‘Administration’, this tells you that the person in question did not leave a valid Will. However, the Probate Registries can still supply a copy of the grant, which is the document naming the person appointed in law as the administrator of the estate.
This can provide genealogical information, especially in older grants where the relationship of the applicant to the deceased was stated. It also gives the value of the estate, although in most cases this is stated as ‘not exceeding’ a certain figure rather than quoting an exact amount. In fact, the Probate record contains very little information about the estate at all and no information about its composition.
Don’t expect to find inventories on file for records after 1858, although they sometimes form part of the Probate record prior to this.
In many cases you can save a lot of time and money by making the search yourself, but there is a postal service by which a search is made on your behalf for a period of four years.
There is a fee of £6 for this, but this includes copies of the Will and/or grant if a record is found. It also gives you the benefit of the experience of Probate staff, for instance in knowing when to search and judging under which name the record is likely to be listed.
If you want the Probate Registry to conduct a search for a period longer than the standard four years, there is an additional fee of £4 for each 4-year period after the first four. Thus, an 8-year search will cost £10, a 12-year search £14, and so on.
If you want to make a postal search, please complete form PA1S, or write and give as much information as possible including the full name, last known address and date of death of the person concerned if known, and send the form or letter and cheque to:
The Postal Searches and Copies DepartmentLeeds District Probate Registry York House York Place Leeds LS1 2BATel: +44 (113) 389 6133 (they will only send you this form Form PA1S so why not download it now and save days of waiting?)
A search can normally be made using less detail, but if the date of death is not known, you must state the year from which you want the search to be made, or give some other evidence that might indicate when the person died. If you have information about legal actions related to Probate or the disposition of assets, include that on your application.
Many people find it convenient to order copies in this way even if they have already made a search of the Probate indexes and located a record relating to the subject of their research, but if this is the case, please include the grant type, issuing Registry and grant issue date on your application, as well as the Folio number if applicable (see above) as this can speed up the supply of copies considerably.
The fee should be payable to “HMCTS”, and if it is paid from abroad, must be made by bank draft, payable through a United Kingdom bank and made out in £ sterling. If you are applying for a search as well, you can request a search of any length, and fees for this are outlined above.
The records referred to here relate only to estates in England and Wales.
If you know of any historical research institute in your area, find out if they have any Probate records. Please note that, since the Leeds Probate Registry serves as a national centre for postal requests for searches and copies, it is not possible to inspect the Probate indexes in person there.
If you know of any historical research institute in your area, find out if they have any Probate records. Please note that, since the Leeds Probate Registry serves as a national centre for postal requests for searches and copies, it is not possible to inspect the Probate indexes in person there.
The Service has undergone a process of computerisation, but as yet this covers only recently issued grants, which will be of limited interest to genealogists. However, anyone who is interested in checking up on grants since 1996 can search the Probate Service database themselves.
To date, workstations for public use have been installed at the Principal Probate Registry and Manchester District Probate Registry. The Postal Searches and Copies Department at York is also completing a long period of computerisation, which should see a much-improved service to family history researchers, with clearer and more comprehensive information and quicker supply of documents.
This information is based on details supplied by the Probate Service. The details are liable to change without notice. Always telephone the Registry before visiting, to check opening times and the availability of records. While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of these details, the Probate Service cannot be held responsible for any consequence of errors.