 Probate Records
Probate record keeping for England and Wales passed
from the church to the state on 11 January 1858.
The Statute of Wills of 1540 provided that a 'will'
should deal with real estate and 'testament' should deal with moveable
personal property.
From 1540 until 1837 a will could be made by a male
over the age of 14 years and by a female over the age of 12 years The
property of a married woman was considered by law to belong to her husband
until the Married Women's Property Act of 1882, when she was able to
dispose of her property without her husbands permission. Spinster's
and widows were excluded, and so were freely able to dispose of their
property.
If you are unable to locate a probate record, then
consider that any unadministered estate will sometimes be found when
the heirs die.
Letters
of Administration
In the cases where
a person died intestate, that is without leaving a will, then very often
matters would be settled by the relatives concerned without the need
to invoke any legal process. Where agreement between relatives could
not be obtained then Letters of Administration (also known as admon)
had to be obtained. This granted legal power to the next of kin, or
an adult, to administer the estate.
Where an executor, or executrix, was not specified,
or if they were unwilling to act, then Letters of Administration would
be granted to permit another person to Administer the estate. This will
be shown as Administration (with Will).
Probate
before 1858
Before 11 January 1958, wills and administration
were handled by the ecclesiastical courts. There were rules to
determine which ecclesiastical court probate woulf be granted. Probate
would be granted in the Archdeacon's court that covered the area
in which the testator's property was held. If property was held in more
than one archdeaconry, thne probate would be granted the Bishop's Diocesan
Court known as the Consistory Court. If the testator's property
was in more than one diocese then the will would be proved in the appropriate
Archbishop's Court, either the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
or the Prerogative Court of York. The smallest courts of all
are known as Peculiars which were controlled by ecclesiastical
dignitaries.
|
