Lancashire Probate Records

For an explanation of probate records in England, click here.

Court Jurisdictions
Before 1858, every town and parish in Lancashire was under the probate jurisdiction of a primary court and one or more secondary courts. To see a list of places in Lancashire and the pre-1858 courts that had probate jurisdiction over them, click on a letter link:

Indexes
A group of volunteers is creating an online index to Lancashire wills. This is an on-going project and the database will grow and become more complete with time. To access the index, go to: Lancashire Will Search.

An index of wills and related documents covering Lancashire north of the Ribble, and parts of Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire, 1748-1858:

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/ahss/education_social_sciences/history/probate_index.php

An index of all surviving probate documents for the Western Deaneries of the Archdeaconry of Richmond, 1748-1858 has been prepared. The deaneries included are Amounderness, Copeland, Furness, Kendal and Lonsdale.

Post-1857 Probate Records
Beginning in 1858, the government took over the settlement of estates and all wills are now probated through the Principal Probate Registry system. The system consists of 11 district registry offices and 18 sub-district registries, located throughout England and Wales, and the principal registry office located in London. The records are available through the office of Her Majesty's Courts Service. To learn more, go to the HMCS website.

A country-wide surname index to the records is available, so it is much easier to look for post-1857 wills. The indexes for 1858-1957 and the records for 1858-1925 are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.