Arizona, Maricopa County Probate Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States Arizona Maricopa County

What is in the Collection?
This collection contains images of the probate case files from the Maricopa County Superior Court for the years 1870 to 1930.

Sample Images
Probate records were court documents and may have involved loose papers and/or bound volumes generally known as an estate file or probate packet. These files included all documents related to estate settlement, such as:


 * Settlement papers
 * Inventories
 * Receipts
 * Wills

Other records pertaining to the probate case files include:


 * Accounts
 * Administrations
 * Appraisals
 * Minutes
 * Bonds
 * Petitions
 * Guardianships
 * Inventories
 * Settlements

Probate records are used to legally dispose of a person’s estate after his or her death. The probate process transfers the legal responsibility for payment of taxes, care and custody of dependent family members, liquidation of debts, and transfer of property title. The transfer is to an executor or executrix if the deceased had made a will, to an administrator or administratrix if the deceased had not made a will, or to a guardian or conservator if the deceased had heirs under the age of twenty-one or if heirs were incompetent due to disease or disability.

Probate records fall into two general categories: wills and estate papers. Most records mention the names of heirs and frequently specify how those heirs are related. Names of children may be given, as well as married names of daughters. Probate records may not give an exact death date, but a death most often occurred within a few months of the date of probate. The exact contents of probate records vary greatly depending on the prevailing law and the personality of the record keeper.

What Can this Collection Tell Me?
Information in these records generally includes:


 * Name of testator or deceased
 * Names of heirs such as spouse, children, and other relatives or friends
 * Names of witnesses
 * Residence of testator
 * Lists of belongings, property, and so forth
 * Document and recording dates (Sometimes the date of death will be given. Recording dates are also used to approximate event dates, i.e. a letter of administration was usually written shortly after the time of death.)

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search it is helpful to know at least one of the following:
 * The name of the deceased.
 * The approximate death or probate date.
 * The names of family members or associates named in the probate file.

Compare the information on the image to what you already know about your ancestor to determine if it is the correct family or person. You may need to compare several images before you find your ancestor.

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒ Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒ Select the “Year and Case Number” that takes you to the images.

What Do I Do Next?
Whenever possible, view the original records to verify the information and to find additional information that might not be reported. These pieces of information can lead you to additional records and family members.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?

 * Use probate records to identify heirs and relatives.
 * Use the document (such as the will) or the recording dates to approximate a death date.
 * Use the information in the probate record to substitute for civil birth and death records since the probates exist for an earlier time period.
 * You may be able to use the probate record to learn about land transactions.
 * Use the birth date or age along with the residence or place of birth of the deceased to locate census, church, and land records.
 * Use the occupations listed to find other types of records such as employment records or military records.
 * Repeat this process with additional family member’s records to find more generations of the family.
 * Church Records often were kept years before government records were required and are a good source for finding ancestors before 1900.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Try viewing the original record to see if there were errors in the transcription of the name, age, residence, etc. Remember that there may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * Collect entries for every person who has the same surname. This list can help you identify possible relations that can be verified by records.
 * If you cannot locate your ancestor in the locality in which you believe they lived, then try searching records of a nearby locality in an area search.
 * Standard spelling of names typically did not exist during the periods our ancestors lived in. Try variations of your ancestor’s name while searching the index or browsing through images.
 * Remember that sometimes individuals went by nicknames or alternated between using first and middle names. Try searching for these names as well.
 * Search the indexes and records of Arizona, United States Genealogy.
 * Search in the Arizona Archives and Libraries.

Citing this Collection
Citing your sources makes it easy for others to find and evaluate the records you used. When you copy information from a record, list where you found that information. Here you can find citations already created for the entire collection and for each individual record or image.

Image Citation: