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Record series

Probate and Administration Files

VPRS 28
1841 - 2009
Open, Not set
North Melbourne
About Record items Record groupings Related record series Related functions

Agencies

This record series was created by:
Supreme Court of N.S.W. for the District of Port Phillip ( VA914 ): 1841 - 1852
Master in Equity, Supreme Court (also known as Master in Equity and Lunacy 1867-1923) ( VA2624 ): 1852 - 1948
Master of the Supreme Court ( VA2613 ): 1948 - 1960
Registrar of Probates, Supreme Court ( VA2620 ): 1960 - present
Agencies responsible for this record series:
Registrar of Probates, Supreme Court ( VA 2620 ): 1960 - present

Date Range

Series date range: 1841 - 2009
Series in custody: 1841 - 2009
Contents in custody: 1841 - 2017

Function / Content

The records in this series consist of Probate and Administration Files that document applications lodged to the Supreme Court for the granting of Probate and Letters of Administration.

When a person dies leaving assets in Victoria, it is the responsibility of the executor named in a Will, or the next of kin where there is no will, to administer the estate of the deceased according to law. In some instances, a grant of representation will be required to deal with the assets that have been left behind by the deceased.

A Probate is a document issued by the court certifying the will's validity and confirming the appointment of an Executor to administer the deceased estate.

Letters of Administration is the Court's approval to administer the estate of a person who dies without a will. In most instances Letters of Administration will be granted to the next of kin of the deceased e.g. a spouse, domestic partner or a child of the deceased.

Alternatively, if the deceased has left a valid will but the named Executor is no longer alive, competent, or willing to undertake the responsibilities involved with administering the estate, the court may appoint someone else e.g. a beneficiary, to administer the deceased's estate according to the will. This is called 'Letters of Administration with the Will annexed'. These applications contain the original will or a copy of the will.

Applications for Probate or Letters of Administration include the following documents:
  • an Inventory of Assets and Liabilities
  • an Affidavit of Executor / Administrator
  • an Affidavit of Publication of Notice and Searches

Depending on the application type, application files may also contain:
  • a Will (original or copy) of the deceased
  • Affidavits of attesting witnesses
  • Documents providing proof of death and accounts relating to the estate.

Prior to 1992, wills were generally filed separately from the Probate and Administration Files. Wills from 1853 to 1992 can be found in VPRS 7591 Wills. The last will located in Consignment P0018 of VPRS 7591 is 1051/145.

For Probate and Administration Files from 2009 onwards, refer to VPRS 17379 Probate and Administration Files (CourtView).

Non-Issues
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, or another Will had been found, or the documentation was incomplete or incorrect, or a caveat had not been acted on or reissued (a caveat lasts six months unless renewed). In these cases the documentation that had been completed as part of the process was described as 'Non-Issue'. These papers can be found in VPRS 7933 Non Issued Probate Applications.

P0000, P0001 & P0002 Consignments
The P0000 consignment of this series includes files dating from 1841 to 1922. Various documents from each file were retained by the Probate Office at the time of the initial transfer. Those documents retained included:
  • the will
  • the executors affidavit
  • the grant of Probate or Letter of Administration
  • the inventory of the Estate.

The remaining portions of each file in the P0000 consignment were subsequently transferred to PROV and are found in the P0001 or P0002 consignments. Further remaining documents dating from 1841 to 1853 were transferred in 1989 as VPRS 7592. 

P0032 Consignment
A spot check of this consignment conducted by PROV revealed some processing anomalies, which include:
  • Files which were listed for transfer but were missing from the consignment have been replaced with a Probate Issue "file marker" indicating the file was currently in use by the agency.
  • Files with multiple parts have not had their additional parts recorded and are not bundled with the original file.
  • Files which were removed and were not listed in the consignment details. These have been inserted into the numeric file number sequence.

How to use the records

This series can be searched by name of the deceased. The following indexes may also be used to identify the file number of interest:
  • VPRS 3340 Index to Probates and Administrations Issued [Microform] (1841 - 1992)
  • VPRS 262 Index to Probates and Administrations Issued (1853 - 1888)
  • VPRS 20692 Register of Probates and Administrations Issued II (1889 - 1989)

Recordkeeping system

There were three different numbering systems used to identify the Probate and Administration files and the wills.

1841 to 1853
The first is a sequential numbering system made up of series 'A' and series 'B'. Series 'A' has sequential numbering from 1 to 412 while Series 'B' has sequential numbering from 1 to 210. For example, A/121 is the 121st file in series 'A'. Further documents from these files may be found in VPRS 7592 Wills and Probate and Administration Files.

Copies of wills relating to these numbers are found in volumes A and B respectively of VPRS 27 Transcriptions of Wills [also known as Register of Wills].

It is unknown if these files were controlled by a register, however an index was created at some point. A microform copy of this index can be found in VPRS 3340 Index to Probates and Administrations [Microform].

1853 to 1992
As of March 1853 the numbering system was sequential and files were divided into numbered 'series' of 1000 files. The file number is represented by the 'series' number and a sequential number from 0 to 999. For example, 109/291 is the 292nd file in the 109th 'series'.

File numbers were allocated in VPRS 261 Register of Probates and Administrations Issued I until 1900, after which a self-indexing register was introduced (VPRS 20692 Register of Probates and Administrations Issued II). This new register backdated entries from 1889, functionally replacing VPRS 262 Index to Probates and Administration Issued which covered the period 1853 to 1888. As the new register was arranged in relatively precise alphabetical order by surname, "Rough Index Books" (VPRS 20696) were used to allocate the file numbers. The earliest extant Rough Index Book dates from 1909 and so it is unclear if Rough Index Books were used prior to this date. As the earliest books are repurposed volumes such as unused cash books, they were likely initially seen as purely facilitative records and may have been destroyed once the file details were formally entered into the register. This system remained in use until the electronic system, known as SCORPION, was introduced in 1990. An output of this system as of 1992 was included in VPRS 3340 Index to Probates and Administrations [Microform].

1993 to 2009
From 1993 a single number sequence was used. The last file number to be divided into "series" and "sequential number" is 1064/29. The next file number is 1064030, followed by 1064031 and so on. This system was replaced by the case management system CourtView in September 2009. Any Non-Issue files that were later reactivated after this time can be found in VPRS 17379 Probate and Administration Files (CourtView).