Genealogy Chat

Saw this site:

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

Which has an free online search for probate records post 1996 (I think just England and Wales, but check it out for yourselves)

You do have to search by name and year, and if you do find what you want, you can pay the £10 and send off for a copy of the probate/will details.

I found a probate record for my uncle who died in June 2014 with a probate date of Sept 2014.

Unfortunately you MUST put in a year of death, so would have to do a year by year search if you didn't know that.

Given that online death indexes currently only go up to c2007 , I thought it might be another way to help look for suspected deaths after that date .

This is interesting: I saw reference to this in a recent Family History Magazine.
Just tried it and found my Brother who died in 2012, with the probate in April 2013.

I agree this could be a good additional search method.

The site is in 'beta' so will not be 100% right yet.

PeeEmm :-)

Thank you - another one for the Bookmarks/Favourites.

With a bit of luck, it might eventually continue on from the Probate Calender as published on Ancestry to 1966. An actual date of death, if you can find it, is much more satisfying than a Quarter.

Added - just found the deaths of two 'twigs' after 2006 :-D

Many thanks Kucinta

Brilliant! This has given me an intriguing little mystery to solve. Have just found a 2012 death for a relative in Newcastle Upon Tyne, total surprise as we have no links there whatsoever. Her husband died 7 years previously in Kidderminster. So, as a childless (I believe) widow in her 70's she ended up in Newcastle for some reason.

Thanks so much for bringing this site to our attention Kucinta.

Jan x

Happy to hear people are finding it useful :-)

Went on there and found ZILCH

And that was for wills that I already had!!!!!

Did the death occur 1996 or later?? It supposed to be a Beta site, so may be that's why they are missing.

There is another little wrinkle - depending on the size of the Estate and the heirs, it may not have ended up on the Calender.

A neighbour died last year - the Estate was too small to go to full Probate and only one heir, his wife.

The same applied to a friend's father who died in 1998 - we'd looked for a Will as he wanted to check up on something. He knew the Estate had been left to the father's second wife but he wanted to check the wording.

I have found 4 out of 5, at a quick random search.

So - a very reasonable result for a test site.

Kucinta

That's a great find.........in my favourites

:-)

Mine were pre 1966. And as I was just trying out the site, thought the best thing to do was to try for those I knew as I already had the wills.

Was not impressed!

It does not have pre 1966.

It states:

'Search for the will or probate of any person in the UK who died in or after 1996'

I did head the thread Probate 1996-2014, so assumed people would realise from that, it only listed probates from the last 18 years or so :-S

I hoped the free probate index might be of interest to people, and whilst I realise every death does not result in a probate entry, I also thought the site might work as an additional tool for searching for relatively recent deaths in England and Wales after 2007, which is where most online death indexes end.

I was personally very impressed that my uncle, whose probate date was Sept 2014, ie only a month ago, was listed.

hank yu I will give it a try

sally w <3

Thank your the tip.

I've found several of mine including my nans which I did last year.

Chris

Very helpful. Thank you.

Has anyone provided feedback?

Mine:-
Clicking "feedback" does not result in any input screen. In fact it seems to crash my internet connection.

Suggest that you consider having a chart/list of the areas covered by each District Probate Registry.

I was most confused to see that for my father [XXNAME & DATE OF DEATHXX] the Registry was Brighton, seeing that he died at his home in XXLONDON AREAXX. Until, that is, I got out my probate copy.

Kind regards,

Reply from HMCTS Wills:-
Good morning, thank you for feedback regarding your experience using this new service, your suggestions will go towards helping us develop a more effective and user friendly service.

Your suggestions have been put to our developers for consideration. Additionally, the entire Probate Calendar dating back to 1858 will be included in this service within the coming months.

Kind Regards

Para 2 is a good one - I've been think that myself, or at least asking on here if anyone has found a link elsewhere

Just seen this :-)

Have been on the site and there are three headings:

Wills and Probate 1996 to present

Wills and Probate 1858 to 1996

Soldiers Wills.

Found the date of Death of an Uncle in 1998

Hi Allan,

Yes, it's great to see that they held good to the plan to add the 1858-1996 indexes to the site (see Inky1's post).