3 Ways to Find Probate Records on FamilySearch (Plus AI Transcription)
Probate records remain one of the un-indexed and easily searchable records in most counties. Here's a variety of ways to find what is online and transcribe it.
When FamilySearch microfilmed county courthouse records in the mid-20th century, they did not make films of everything in courthouse.
What this means for probate records, FamilySearch often microfilmed courthouse index books to those records, and not the entire probate (or more often called "estate") file. There are index books to Orphan's Court Administrations for those who died intestate (without a will) and the Will Books for those who had written and witnessed a will prior to death. There are also occasionally other parts of the probate process microfilmed, such as Bond Indexes, and Docket Indexes.
You will find the names of the collections of probate records varies from county-to-county in the state, and each county organized their records in different ways. We are going to walk-through Berks County probate records in the examples below.