This is a handout given at The Genealogical Library, Salt Lake City,
Utah, entitled GUIDE TO GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE UNITED STATES
AND CANADA 
  
                     PROBATE RECORDS 
  
  
                       DEFINITION 
  
Probate: the act or process by which the will of a person is proved, or
the estate of a deceased person is dispersed. 
  
  
                   GENEALOGICAL VALUE 
  
Probate records vary somewhat in content and format from district to
district and state to state.  Probate records often give specific
relationship of the heirs to the deceased.  They may also give
information on the present or former residence(s) of the heirs and of
the deceased.  Gifts of personal property mentioned in a will may
provide clues to religious affiliation, military service, social status,
occupation, etc.  Wills may also provide the date of death, or a close
approximation of it.  Caution must be exercised in assuming
relationships of people mentioned in the will.  The wife may not be the
mother of the children mentioned.  Not all the children may be mentioned
in it.  Deceased children and those who had already received their
inheritance were often excluded from the will. 
  
Listed below are some of the records generated in the probate process
and a description of their contents: 
  
  
                          MAJOR RECORDS 
  
ADOPTION AND GUARDIANSHIP: name of the child(ren), parents, guardian(s)
or foster parents; age and sex of child(ren); residences of the parties
involved; inheritance(s); and guardians' bond. 
  
BOND: name of the administrator or executor(s), bondsmen, the deceased;
amount and date of bond. 
  
CASE FILE: copy of will; inventory of estate; copies of the court order;
miscellaneous letters and papers pertaining to the probate action. 
  
DOCKET, CALENDAR or INDEX: date of court action; name(s) of executor(s)
or administrator(s), and of the deceased; reference to the order book
and case files. 
  
ORDER BOOK: court order; date of order; name(s) of executor(s) or
administrator(s); identification of the estate. 
  
WILL: date of will; name of testator; name(s) and relationship(s) of
heir(s) (if any); description of property and its deposition; name(s) of
executor(s) and witnesses; date of probate. 
  
  
                 ADDITIONAL TERMINOLOGY 
  
ADMINISTRATOR (ADMINISTRATRIX): individual appointed by the court to
dispose of the estate of a person who died intestate. 
  
CODICIL: document created by the testator to amend his/her will. 
  
ET UXER (ER. UX.): and wife. 
  
EXECUTOR (EXECUTRIX): person appointed by the testator and approved by
the court to execute the terms of the will. 
  
HOLOGRAPHIC WILL: will which is written, dated, and signed entirely in
the testator's own hand.  This type of will requires no witnesses to its
signing. 
  
INTESTATE: one who died without leaving a will. 
  
NOTORIAL or AUTHENTIC WILL: will made by the testator before a Notary.
It is retained in the Notary's file until the testator's death. 
  
NUNCUPATIVE WILL: will given orally in the presence of witnesses. 
  
TESTATE: one who died leaving a will. 
  
  
                         AVAILABILITY 
  
Probate records are usually in the custody of the Probate Clerk in the
county where the estate was probated.  The Genealogical Department
Library has microfilmed probate records for many counties, but seldom
has the complete probate packets or case file.  The complete probate
packets may be available through personal research at the county
courthouse by hiring a local researcher, or sometimes by correspondence
with the probate clerk. 
  
  
                         BIBLIOGRAPHY 
  
THE AMERICAN GENEALOGIST, "Probate Laws and Customs" by Donald Lines 
  Jacobus. 
   
BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY, by Henry Campbell Black (St.  Paul, Minn: West 
  Publishing Co., 1968). 
  
THE RESEARCHER'S GUIDE TO AMERICAN GENEALOGY by Val D. Greenwood 
  (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1973) Chapters 12-14 
  
A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF WILLS, by John R. Rood (Chicago: Callaghan & 
  Co., 1926). 
  
  
CANADA 
  
Wills and probate records are registered with the various Surrogate or
Probate Courts in each of the provinces.  All provinces are divided into
surrogate court districts, each of which is responsible for the
adminstration of its own records.  Most provinces have a central
registrar for surrogate records.  Local courts submit a brief notice to
the central agency regarding each application for probate being
processed by their offices.  These notices generally contain the name,
residence, occupation, date of death, some information regarding the
nature of the probate, and the local surrogate court where the
application for probate was made.