VPRS 7933 Non-Issued Probate Applications

Full description

This series contains the various documents which were required to be lodged with the Registrar of Probate prior to the making of a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration. These files contain documents lodged for applications which did not result in a grant of probate. Such applications are known as "non-issue".

Probate, the legal proof that a person is entitled to act as "executor" of someone's estate and distribute and dispose of assets according to a Will, is granted by the Registrar of Probates, as an Officer of the Supreme Court. The Registrar, through the Court, also grants Letters of Administration where a person dies without a Will or executors nominated predecease the testator.

In some cases the process of applying for the Grant was aborted and Probate was not granted. This could be because a named executor had died in the midst of the process of applying for the Grant, another Will had been found, the documentation was incomplete or incorrect, or a caveat had not been acted on or reissued (they only last for six months unless they are renewed). In these cases the documentation that had been completed as part of the process was described as "Non-Issue".

The actual files may contain many, or all, of the papers required by the Registrar of Probate for a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration including:

• Affidavits
• Inventory of Estate
• Publication Notice
• Praecipe etc.

Some files also include a Will.