New York, Kings County Estate Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

This wiki article describes a collection that is scheduled to be made available for free online at FamilySearch Record Search – Pilot Site.

Collection Time Period
This index includes county probate records for the years 1866-1923.

Collection History
Kings County was created in 1683 as one of the original counties. The county has kept probate records since the time it was created. The records were kept by the Surrogate Court. Probate records are generally recorded in the county where the person resided. Estates were probated for approximately 25 percent of the heads of households in the United States before 1900, whether or not the individual left a will. The percentage of heads of households listed in this collection of estate files will probably be higher than 25 percent because a much larger percentage of the New York population is represented in the estate files than in the will books. Wills are more likely to be found in rural communities than in larger cities and industrial areas.

Why This Collection Was Created
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 to heirs from the deceased 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.

Collection Reliability
The death date, residence, and other facts that were current at the time of the probate proceeding are quite reliable, though there is still a chance of misinformation. The records may omit the names of deceased family members and those who have previously received an inheritance, or the spouse mentioned may not be the parent of the children mentioned.

Collection Description
Probate records were court documents and may have involved loose papers and/or bound volumes. These records were generally known as an estate file or probate packet. These files included all documents related to estate settlement, including settlement papers, inventories, receipts, and other records pertaining to the estates, including accounts, administrations, appraisals, minutes, bonds, petitions, guardianships, inventories and settlements. The wills for this collection are described separately.

Collection Content (Heading 3)
Probate records include petitions, inventories, accounts, decrees, oaths of executors, forms about guardians and other court documents. Genealogical facts in entries include: • 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 to Use the Collection
Use probate records to identify heirs and relatives. Probate records may contain person’s death date, the names of family members, family relationships, and residences. Use this information to search for information in other records. You may learn about adoptions or guardianship of minor children and dependents. You may need to use probate records as a substitute for civil birth and death records because they exist for an earlier time period.

Related Websites
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Bibliographic Information
Kings County, New York. Probate Records. Digital images of originals housed in the Kings County Surrogate Court, Brooklyn, New York.

Related Articles (Heading 2):
New York Probate Records