Wills and Probate Records

What exactly is a will?

A will is a document that sets out what a person wants to happen to their possessions after their death. In order to ensure that the will complies with any lagal requirements, and ensure that there will not be problems with interpretation, this is usually prepared by a lawyer.

Do I need to find Wills?

If you can trace the wills of your ancestors this can be useful in several ways:
  1. You may find relatives and their details mentioned that will confirm what you have suspected, perhaps by finding names mentioned in parish records which contained insufficient information to be certain that they were the correct relative.


  2. You may find new relatives mentioned which will help you complete branches of your family tree.


  3. Will usually provide extra details about the lifestyle of the deceased person, for example, if they were rich or poor.

However, many people complete their family trees as far back as they want to go without bothering to search for wills.

How far back do wills go?

Wills were first introduced by the Statute of Wills in 1540 and allowed men over 14 and women over 12 to make a will. However, you will need to be very lucky to actually find your ancestors Will back that far, unless they were wealthy enough to have significant property to leave. It is the Wills Act of 1837 which stated the rules governing most of the wills which have survived. The minimum age at which a person could make a will was changed to 21.

1837 was an important year for Family Historians and Genealogists as the law implementing the registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages was also made law in that year.

You are unlikely to find wills for married women relatives until after 1882, as married women were not allowed to own property, or anything else, in their own right (everything was assumed to belong to her husband) so would not have needed to make a will.

Where can I find wills?

Wills up to 1858 had to be approved by church or other courts. The most important of these was The Prerogative Court of Canterbury. This dealt with the wealthier people living mostly in Southern England or Wales. If you ancestors were from this area you can search the National Archives which has an online database of the indexes (lists of wills). Searching is free and If you find a will you can then order a copy online (you have to pay for this). Records for the north of England are kept at the online and cover Courts other than the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. However, one of the best sites for investigating wills is British Origins which has indexes for both the Prerogative Counts of Canterbury and York as well as numerous other probate records covering England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.