Delaware Probate Records

Portal:United States Probate &gt;Delaware

Record Overview
Probate records are court records created after an individual’s death that relate to a court’s decisions regarding the distribution of the estate to the heirs or creditors and the care of any dependents. You may find the names of married daughters or other relatives and their residences; or information about the adoption or guardianship of minor children and dependents. Probate records do not always give an exact date of death, but the death usually occurred within four months of probate. These documents are important to family history researchers, because they usually exist for time periods before civil birth and death records were kept.

Probate records may include: petitions, wills, bonds, inventories, publications, accounts, divisions,claims, letters of administration, probate journals, probate packets,

Other documents may include: adoption, deed, guardianship, legitimation of children, manumissions, apprenticeships, dower rights and releases, deeds, tax leins, land sold for back taxes, widow allowances, order of distribution, decree of heirship

History
Colonial

Jurisdictions
Probate records in Delaware have been kept by the register of wills in each county from 1682 to the present. The Family History Library has probate indexes and records for all three counties, including wills, administrations, and guardian accounts to about 1850. Most of the original records are at the Delaware Public Archives.

Published county court records for the 1600s refer to many probate matters. These can be found in the Library Catalog Place Search under DELAWARE, [COUNTY] - COURT RECORDS

Wills, administrations, and guardian accounts to about 1850 are frequently listed in Orphans' Court records. A statewide index has been prepared to the year 1800:

Indexes
Virdin, Donald O. Colonial Delaware Wills and Estates to 1800: An Index. Bowie, Maryland, Heritage Books, 1994. (Family History Library book 975.1 P22v.) This contains an alphabetical index of recorded wills of the entire state, listing name, date, county, book and page.

Abstracts of wills up to 1800 have been published in the following volumes. Each volume includes an index that contains every name mentioned in the wills.

County Records (move to county)
A Calendar of Delaware Wills, New Castle County, 1682-1800. New York, NY: National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, 1911; Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1969. (Family History Library book 975.11 S2n.)

DeValinger, Leon. A Calendar of Kent County, Delaware Probate Records, 1680-1800. Dover, Delaware: Public Archives Commission, 1944. (Family History Library film 1035860 item 4; fiche 6051248.) Facsimile reproduction of the original (Family History Library book 975.14 P28d.)

DeValinger, Leon. A Calendar of Sussex County, Delaware Probate Records, 1680-1800. Dover, Delaware: Public Archives Commission, 1964.

Repositories
Family History Library Catalog

Additional important probate records and indexes can be found in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:

DELAWARE - PROBATE RECORDS

DELAWARE, [COUNTY] - PROBATE RECORDS

Websites
http://archives.delaware.gov/collections/probate.shtml

Extracts of Delaware wills are at www.ancestry.com which is a subscription website.