VPRS 4754 Registrar of the County Court Register of Applications for Probate And Letters of Administration

Full description

This series documents the handling of grants of probate or letters of administration for small estates by the Registrar of a local County Court.

The Intestate Widow's Relief Act 1889 established that in cases where the value of an estate did not exceed 500 an applicant for probate or administration could be assisted by the Registrar of the County Court whose office is nearest to the applicant or was located within 10 miles of the deceased's fixed place of abode. Applications could not be made in cases within 20 miles of Melbourne. In 1926, this provision was amended to also include estates with property not exceeding a total of 1,200 provided the deceased had left the estate to a widow, children or both.

In these instances the role of the Registrar was to provide assistance by undertaking the creation and advertising of affidavits and other documents as required, to swear the applicant and other deponents and transferring the relevant documents, affidavits and fees to the Master in Equity in Melbourne.

The register documents the following information in columns headed:

- case number (as allocated by the Registrar)
- name and address of the deceased
- description and value of the property
- names and addresses of plaintiff and practitioner, defendant or caveator
- order or decree and to whom granted
- date of forwarding certificate or will to the Master in Equity
- names of obligors
- date proceedings remitted to the Supreme Court, any appeals and remarks, and
- date when inventories were field by the executor.