Louisiana Probate Records

Probate records before 1845 were kept in probate courts. Since 1845, they have been kept by the clerk of the district court in each parish. Many of the probate records are included in the notarial records with the deeds and mortgages. In some parishes they are known as “succession” records.

The Family History Library has copies of many Louisiana probate files. For example, the library has 900 microfilms from New Orleans courts. These include:


 * successions (1805-1926),


 * will books (1807-1920),


 * inventories (1805-77), and


 * minutes (1819-46).

Most of the pre-1880 files have been indexed.