Question Home

Position:Home>Genealogy> How do you find info on a last will and testamemt on a dead family member?


Question: How do you find info on a last will and testamemt on a dead family member!?
Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:
Before anything else!.!. you need a date of death, and WHERE HE LIVED at the time of his death!. Be careful!.!. a death certificate shows where the death happened, which could be in another state if there was something like an accident or such!.
Any probate records would be filed in the county of residence!.
Keep in mind!.!. many people do not HAVE a will, and MAY have a probate file, if anything!. Some state laws provide for a spouse to not need probate, depending on size of estate (or lack of any estate)!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

In the USA, the Will has to be probated (filed, processed and discharged in court) in the county of the deceased persons legal residence!.
After the conditions of the Will have been discharged (finished/settled), it becomes a public document!.
Check with the court house where the family member died, concerning access to the document!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Everything depends on where and when you are talking about!. Although I am currently reading uk!.answers!.com, Yahoo in their infinate wisdom allow all English-speaking questions to appear on the same board and visible by everyone no matter where you are, and obviously as far as certain categories of questions are concerned, it has to be noted that laws do very between countries and, sometimes, within countries!. Scottish law for example, is quite different to English law, and laws between various US states vary as well, not to mention other English-speaking countries as well such as Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa!.

For the purposes of this question I'm going to assume that you live in England!. And also for the purposes of this question I'm going to assume that this family member died quite recently or after 1858, as wills before this date were proved by the church rather than the state and the process of finding early wills is a lot different!. If they didn't, then perhaps you should rephrase your question with a place and year!. Maybe I am doing all this typing for nothing, but here goes!.!.!.

If a will was made and probated in court then you can get a copy quite easily from the Probate Registry, whether you are related to the deceased or not!. There are a number of probate offices across the country where you can go to look at the indexes and then apply for a copy of a will in person, but since you would have to wait in any case for the will to be posted to you, most sane people write to the postal searches department in York, pay the standard £5 fee (or more, depending on how many years you want searched) and camp patiently outside their letterbox for the next six weeks or so!. This is the link to the application form:

http://www!.hmcourts-service!.gov!.uk/court!.!.!.

Obviously, if no will is found then you'll get a search failure notice!. Refunds are not an option!. Obviously, the more info you provide on the form, the quicker the reply will be!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Check the Probate court records where they died or the country registrar's office!.Www@QuestionHome@Com