| Probate records can prove to be invaluable | | | | Aside from the slim chances you have of |
| resources in tracing ancestry and if you are lucky | | | | stumbling across unclaimed wealth, probate |
| they can even come with some extra perks. | | | | records can prove to be highly valuable research |
| - The Perks | | | | tools. Probate records detail property and land |
| Ok, so lets get right down to the perks, since it | | | | transfers, guardianship, and family relationships. |
| would only be cruel to leave you hanging for the | | | | Many researchers have been able to find |
| whole article waiting to hear about them. Before I | | | | unknown relatives through these records. It is |
| let you in on the secret I must warn you that | | | | often through these records that a relative first |
| these perks are few and far between to say the | | | | appears in ones family history. |
| least. | | | | While you may have run across a name |
| In performing probate research you are sure to | | | | previously, they could have easily been passed |
| come across many different wills and estates | | | | over as a non-family member. It is only through |
| that were passed on by your ancestors. | | | | the will of a Great-Great Grandfather to his |
| Occasionally these wills and estates go unclaimed | | | | Grandson or cousin that you learn of a long lost |
| even with the passing of the years. If, through | | | | relationship that you had not found elsewhere. |
| your genealogical research, you can prove that | | | | The same can be said with the transfer of |
| you are the closest living heir then you can | | | | guardianship. A dying single or widowed parent |
| become the legal heir to the aforementioned | | | | with a young child or children may transfer the |
| estate or willed property. | | | | guardianship of said children through a will. |
| Of course the chances of coming across any of | | | | Sometimes these children choose to take on the |
| these unclaimed wills or estates is quite slim, but | | | | surname of their new guardian family which can fill |
| as you will find in the following examples your | | | | in a hole in your family tree where a child |
| probate research will help you anyway. So you | | | | disappeared after a certain age in your records. |
| may as well search for these things at the same | | | | All things considered Probate research can be |
| time. | | | | highly productive in your continued genealogy |
| - Finding Lost Relatives | | | | research. |