Maryland Probate Estate and Guardianship Files - FamilySearch Historical Records

Collection Time Period
County probate records have been kept from the time the county was formed to the present. The included dates vary by county.

Record Description
Probate records were court documents and may have included both loose papers and bound volumes. These records were generally known as a case file or a probate packet. These files normally included wills, settlement papers, inventories, receipts, and other records pertaining to the estates. Some probate records were recorded in books that may have been labeled with such titles as accounts, administrations, appraisals, minutes, petitions, guardianships, inventories, settlements, and so forth. Wills were normally transcribed into a bound volume.

Record Content


Probate records include petitions, inventories, wills, guardianships, accounts, decrees, and other court documents. They include the following genealogical information:


 * Name of the testator or deceased
 * Names of heirs, such as spouse, children, other relatives, and friends
 * Name of the executor, administrator, or guardian
 * Names of witnesses
 * Residence of the testator
 * Dates the documents were written and recorded (used to approximate event dates since a will was usually written near the time of death)

How to Use the Records
Use probate records to identify heirs and relatives. Probate records may contain a 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 have to substitute probate records for civil birth and death records since they exist for an earlier time period

Record History
Each county began keeping probate records from the time the county was created. Orphan’s Court was the name of the probate court at the county level. Probate records were generally recorded in the county where the person lived. 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. Wills were more likely to have been found in rural communities than in larger cities and industrial areas.

Why This Record Was Created
Probate records were used to legally dispose of a person’s estate after his or her death. If the deceased had made a will, the probate process transferred the following from the deceased to an executor or executrix: the legal responsibility for payment of taxes, care and custody of dependent family members, liquidation of debts, and transfer of property title to heirs. If there was no will, the transfer went to an administrator or administratrix. A guardian or conservator was appointed if the deceased had heirs younger than 21 or if the heirs were incompetent due to disability or disease.

Record Reliability
The death date, residence, and other facts that were current at the time of the probate proceedings are reliable, but realize that there is still a chance of misinformation. The records may omit the names of deceased family members or those who had previously received an inheritance. In some cases, the spouse mentioned in the will was not the parent of the children mentioned. Also, some wills do not name family members.

Related Web Sites
Use probate records to identify heirs and relatives. Probate records may contain a 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 have to substitute probate records for civil birth and death records since they exist for an earlier time period.

Style Guide
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Sources of Information for This Collection:
"Maryland Probate Estate Files," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/); from various county clerk offices throughout Maryland.

The suggested format for citing FamilySearch Historical Collections is found in the following article: How to Create Source Citations For FamilySearch Historical Records Collections

Citing FamilySearch Historical Collections
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Please add sample citations to this article following the format guidelines in the wiki article listed above. Examples of citations:


 * United States. Bureau of the Census. 12th census, 1900, digital images, From FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: September 29, 2006), Arizona Territory, Maricopa, Township 1, East Gila, Salt River Base and Meridian; sheet 9B, line 71
 * Mexico, Distrito Federal, Catholic Church Records, 1886-1933, digital images, from FamilySearch Internet (www.familysearch.org: April 22, 2010), Baptism of Adolfo Fernandez Jimenez, 1 Feb. 1910, San Pedro Apóstol, Cuahimalpa, Distrito Federal, Mexico, film number 0227023