Suffolk Probate Records

England Suffolk

For an explanation of probate records in England, click here.

Probate Court Jurisdictions
Before 1858, every town and parish in Suffolk was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary ecclesiastical court and one or more secondary ecclesiastical courts. To see a list of Suffolk places and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them, click on a letter for the name of a place:

Probate Indexes Online
Before looking for a will, you should search an index.

http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/database/SFKProbate.shtml

Suffolk Probate Indexes 1847-1857 The Testator index records 1,124 wills and the people who made them. The Beneficiary index records 10,698 people, or other entities, who will benefit from those wills. The wills were proved during the years 1847-1857, that is the decade before the civil courts took over the probate of wills from the ecclesiastical courts in 1858.

The following indexes to probate records are available on www.ancestry.com (under the category of 'England Court, Land, Wills &amp; Financial'):


 * Ipswich Probate Inventories, 1583-1631
 * Sudbury Archdeaconry Wills, 1439-1638
 * Wills of the Archdeaconry of Sudbury, 1439-1461
 * Wills of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk, 1620-1624
 * Wills of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk, 1625-1626

Post-1857 Probate Records
Beginning in 1858, the government took over the settlement of estates and all wills are now probated through the Principal Probate Registry system. The system consists of 11 district registry offices and 18 sub-district registries, located throughout England and Wales, and the principal registry office located in London. The records are available through the office of Her Majesty's Courts Service. To learn more, go to the HMCS website.

A country-wide surname index to the records is available, so it is much easier to look for post-1857 wills. The indexes for 1858-1957 and the records for 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.