Genealogy Forum UK

i was watching "WDYTYA" Monday and Rupert Everett got a copy of his ancestors will , i never knew this was possible , assuming my ancestor made a will , how would i get access to it ?

When did they die?

Where did they die?

There are many places to search for the wills and where they might be also depends on the year of probate.

Hi

If the will was proved in the Perogative Court of Canterbury before 1858 then you could search online at the National Archives
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/docu ... duties.asp

If the will was proved locally then you need to work out where it would have been proved. Unfortunately that is not always clear since rather than being based on county lines it is based on church diocese systems. You could start by looking at the right county on http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/index.html There is usually a section, under each county, for probate.

The will of someone who lived in Derbyshire, for example, was usually proved at Lichfield but some fell in Cheshire and some in Lancashire. And if the person had property in more than one diocese then the will should have beeen proved at Canterbury I think. So it can be complicated but the Genuki site is a good starting point.

You could also ask at the local archives office. You can find their address on the Genuki site too.

Some regions have put indexes online and for some places there are abstracts online too. If you want more help then just post the name and when/where your ancestor died and I'm sure someone will be happy to help you.

Blackburn in 1929

i am awaiting the death certificate for more info

I have just recieved a will for my gr gr gr gr grandfather, and although he died in 1852, the will was not proved until after his wife died in 1873, which caused some confussion. Is there a website that can give an idea about the value of money in todays terms? He left under £100 to be divided up between his eleven kids or their heirs!! Doesn't sound like a lot, but I'd like to get a better idea of the value in todays terms.

try this
http://www.measuringworth.com/ppoweruk/

watters2831 wrote:Blackburn in 1929

i am awaiting the death certificate for more info

Then you will probably find your way via this page http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Probate.html
Good luck

I wrote to the probate office in York a few weeks ago, they sent me a form to fill in and by return of post I had the will, it cost £5.

Nessa

nessa wrote:I wrote to the probate office in York a few weeks ago, they sent me a form to fill in and by return of post I had the will, it cost £5.

Nessa

I've just got one back from them, it's a hand written transcript that is photocopied (they do make you aware on the internet that this may be the case), I think most of their wills were transcribed years ago. You can print out the form from the internet, unfortunately they only accept checks in sterling, no credit cards - luckily my parents are quite helpful!!!
A little difficult to read, as like most wills it's written without punctuation! I'm surprised that the english isn't more antiquated, as it's from 1852! All in all, pretty interesting!

Sue

snoopysue wrote:I have just recieved a will for my gr gr gr gr grandfather, and although he died in 1852, the will was not proved until after his wife died in 1873, which caused some confussion. Is there a website that can give an idea about the value of money in todays terms? He left under £100 to be divided up between his eleven kids or their heirs!! Doesn't sound like a lot, but I'd like to get a better idea of the value in todays terms.

mmmm....the woman i am interested in died in 1929 , her husband died in 1947 , the probate office in york will search the first 4 years after her death for £5 and further searches in 4 year blocks are extra £3

watters2831 wrote:

snoopysue wrote:I have just recieved a will for my gr gr gr gr grandfather, and although he died in 1852, the will was not proved until after his wife died in 1873, which caused some confussion. Is there a website that can give an idea about the value of money in todays terms? He left under £100 to be divided up between his eleven kids or their heirs!! Doesn't sound like a lot, but I'd like to get a better idea of the value in todays terms.

mmmm....the woman i am interested in died in 1929 , her husband died in 1947 , the probate office in york will search the first 4 years after her death for £5 and further searches in 4 year blocks are extra £3

I was lucky to find a reference to this will in somebody else's tree - I hadn't considered that that part of my family had enough to consider making a will ( I Know better now!). I then contacted Lichfield (they were a Staffs family) and they confirmed that there was a will and when it was proved - that didn't cost me a penny!!! I told Lichfield when the person died, where he lived and when I thourght the will was proved (info from other tree), and they came back with precise date it was proved, the date the will was written and his occupation, and that York had it on record. I'll definately try that route again.

See Fatman's link further up for todays value! I found out if I want the todays value in terms of buying power that £100 in 1873 would be about £8000 in todays terms, but if you compare it to average wages it was about £15000. So even though it was divided up between 11 kids, it was still a fair amount of money.

The only thing I'm left wondering is that it says on the will that the amount was under £100, does this mean that it could be sustantially less than £100 or that it was between a certain value - say £50 and £100?

I was very fortunate to recieve a copy of my great x 4 grandads will. A whole 14 pages!! I had fun on the calculate how much it is worth page. One bequest was for £8,000 which in todays money was about £380,000!!

has anyone tried viewing on ancestry yet?

kiansmom wrote:I was very fortunate to recieve a copy of my great x 4 grandads will. A whole 14 pages!! I had fun on the calculate how much it is worth page. One bequest was for £8,000 which in todays money was about £380,000!!

Was it totally without punctuation?
I don't envy you if it was!!!

watters2831 wrote:has anyone tried viewing on ancestry yet?

I looked up a will I already have - that worked fine. Looked up several I didn't have and found quite a few!