SUPREME COURT PROBATE OFFICE

Copies of original documents from PROBATED WILLS and ESTATE FILES are located at the SUPREME COURT - PROBATE OFFICE at:

P.O. Box 937,
St. John's, Newfoundland,
A1C 5M3.
Telephone # (709) 729-2569 or
Fax # (709) 729-6174

or

If visiting in person, the entrance is located on Duckworth Street of the Supreme Court. The Probate office is located on the second floor. They will accept inquires through the mail or by fax on any wills, and they will then inform you of the cost of the wills that you want and you will have to mail a check, money order or bank draft made payable to the "Supreme Court of Newfoundland" in the amount specified by the Probate Clerk.

Wills cost $ 10.00 for each name researched and $ 1.00 for each page copied (prices as of 2006). Some wills are one (1) page and others can run up to twenty (20) pages depending on the size of the estate.

The WILLS index will let you know if a will has been probated for the person. If you do not see it in the Index, inquire with the Probate Office as they do have wills on file that are considered "Administrative Wills" and were not included in the indexing of the wills.

PROVINCIAL ARCHIVES OF NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

Originals of the MISC WILLS and DEEDS, (which contain copies of older wills - prior to 1830), and were originally housed at the Confederation Building, are currently located at the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Due to the deterioration of these books, they have been taken out of circulation and are in the custody of the Provincial Archivist. These books are not accessible at the present time as they are undergoing evaluation and possible restoration.

LDS FAMILY HISTORY CENTER

Another source of getting copies of probated wills is by ordering the microfilm through a local LDS Family History Center. Refer to

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp

for a location near you.

A listing of the Film Numbers. can also be found on NGB under "Wills - Additional Information - LDS Family History Center - Probated Wills Film Numbers".

TRANSCRIBER'S PERSONAL FILES

In some cases, wills are not associated with an official transcribed index. This could be because the applicable index has not, as yet, been transcribed and posted, like the Northern and Southern Districts. Examples of this can be found in the file "Other Misc Newfoundland Wills & Deeds". In some other cases, they may be personal wills.

In such cases, the only resource is to contact the original transcriber of the will.

WHERE NGB'S WILL TRANSCRIPTIONS CAME FROM

Copies of WILLS which you will find on this site are provided by VOLUNTEERS who have donated them to NGB. They will only be posted to this site as people send them to us as this is not a project that was undertaken by NGB to go out and obtain copies of all these documents.

If you have documents of this nature, we would be pleased to add them to this area of Newfoundland history for you. Make sure that you carefully proof read them before submitting, and supply complete source information for the documents.