RootsChat.Com
Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: meerkat49 on Sunday 26 January 14 18:52 GMT (UK)
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Does anyone know how I can find out about a will for someone who died in 1978. The person is Ralph Richards who died in the Bristol area. His parents Henry John Richards who died in 1942 and mother Francis Louise who died in 1947 both left their money to him although there were other siblings and as I understand some problem over a property. Regards Jayne
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Hi
As you probably know the Probate Calendars online only go up to 1966, after that date they would need to be looked up at one of the Probate Registrys in England & Wales.
The link below has information on Wills
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/wills-and-probate-records.htm
If you know the date of death you can ask for a search of the Probate Register - think it still costs £6 (or at least it did last year) they look up to 5 years after the death in case there was a problem proving the will and it got delayed.
Sandra
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I may be able to check this out for you in the week.
It may save you £6 if there isn't an entry.
Dawn
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Apologies in advance if this is an inappropriate post but I have only just signed up today. I am also trying to find out how to access the probate calendar for post 1966 entries. I have the dates and place of death but have no idea how to access the records. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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I have just sent off for 2 wills from the probate calendar. It costs £6 for the search and also a copy of the will. It took a couple of weeks for the stuff to arrive.
I am about to send off for one from the 1990's - I'm not 100% sure there is a will, but there's talk of one!
Have a look here:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/family-history
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Hi and welcome
Have a look at http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=403342.msg3673350#msg3673350
It has general information as well as specific London details.
There are various probate centres around England and Wales where you can go to look at the index for all wills. They are fairly up to date too.
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Hi Catherine & Lisa
There are chatters who visit the Probate registry in London.
If you post the full name and date of death, I'm sure someone will be able to help do the look-up for you.
Dawn
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Thank you Dawn the person I am interested in is Eric Edward Cockerill who died in Grimsby on 12 April 1995. His widow Audrey Mary Cockerill died in April 1996. I am not a will chaser only interested to learn whether there are any living relatives.
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You could try looking at www.freebmd.org.uk which may show their marriage. It is not full coverage though. Once you have that you can look for possible children with that mother's maiden name. We can't give details of living people on Rootschat. The full BMD index is on www.findmypast.com but you have to pay to access it. There is a possible marriage in Northampton in 1958 to Audrey M Smith - not the ideal name to search! Assuming they stayed in that area there are possible children so the will may be very useful, if there is one.
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Thanks Sillgen for your reply and yes your records are correct. I know that Eric and Audrey died in 1995 and 1996 (I have Eric's death certificates) but ancestry.com haven't provided any leads on children from this marriage. Eric has a son and daughter from a previous marriage and his grandson is curious to find out what became of his grandfather and if possible see a photograph.
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The informant on a death cert is often a relative and you can trace more family from that.
Likely to still be alive of course so cannot be named here.Both Find My Past and Ancestry have access (Pay per view) to current electoral rolls,but you may find that a lot of us have opted out of the published lists to avoid junk mails and phone calls.
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Not sure where you live, but if in England, then some of the major libraries - those with large Local History/Family History sections - may have the post-1966 entries on film or fiche.
I know that Birmingham Central Library have records up to 1998.
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Ancestry only has the freebmd version of the birth registers and that is not all of them though they are being added all the time. You need a paying one such as findmypast to look at records as recent as this.