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Online Catalogue – Ordering Wills and Probate Records
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here for a PDF version (132k)
This guide outlines step by step how to order Wills and
Probate records on PROV's Online Catalogue for viewing in
PROV’s North Melbourne Reading Room at the Victorian Archives Centre, and
how to view digitised wills and probate records online. Wherever you go
on PROV’s Online Catalogue, you can click on the Help icon to see
detailed information relating to the page that you are using. PROV holds
wills and probate and administration records from 1841 to 1995. For records
from 1996 onwards researchers are advised to contact the Probate Office of the
Supreme Court of Victoria:
Administration and Probate
2nd floor, 436 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel. (03) 9603 9296
www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au
(follow the links under Practice and Procedure to the Probate Office)
The Ordering Wills and Probate page on PROV’s Online Catalogue
looks for records in the Wills Series (VPRS
7591) and Probate
Administration Files Series (VPRS
28). For wills, and probate and administration
records from 1841-1992 you will need to consult the Victorian Probate Index,
available in PROV’s Reading Rooms, to find the number that corresponds to
the person whose will and probate documents you are looking for.
The Victorian Probate Index is also available at the Probate Office of the Supreme
Court of Victoria, the State Library of Victoria, or genealogical research centres
and some local libraries. For records created between 1993 and 1995 you
do not need to consult the Victorian Probate Index as these records are
searchable by name.
Once you have found the number you require from the
Victorian Probate Index follow these steps:
Step 1: Log in to PROV’s
online catalogue. See PROVguide 19
for information on registering a Public User Account if you do not already have
one.
Step 2: For records created
between 1993 and 1995 do a Search
Within a Series, entering the number 28 into the VPRS text field,
and the name of the deceased in the next text field. Go directly to step
4.
For records between 1841 and 1992 select Wills and Probate from the Ordering menu. The
Ordering Wills and Probate page will be displayed.

Step 3: Enter the two-part will
or probate number from the Probate Index (for references up to 1969), in the
format shown above, separating the numbers with a slash ( / ). Click on
the Search button.
Please note: if the second
number contains zeros eg. 123 004, or has less than three digits eg. 123
4, include zeros after the slash so that the second number contains three
digits eg. 123/004.
Between 1970-1992 the reference numbers on the Probate Index
appear as one number under the heading References
(on the Probate Index). Use the 6 or 7 digit number only, and add a slash
before the last three numbers, eg. the number 1060807 will be entered into the
ordering page as 1060/807.
If you have obtained the number from the Probate Office, it
will be referred to as a Storage number.
To look for multiple wills and probate records on PROV's
Online Catalogue, separate each number by a comma followed by a space. eg 109/511,
78/181, 123/004.
Step 4: If a result is found,
the catalogue will return all matches in the Search
Results page.

Step 5: In the Search Results page tick the
check box next to the entry for each of the records you wish to order and click
on the Order selected entries button to place the
order. If they are not on order to another researcher the selected
records will be ordered and appear in your My Orders:
Current page.
Digitisation
Wills and probate records are being progressively digitised,
starting from the earliest records that PROV holds. To view the digitised
record of a will or probate you have located an entry for in a Search Result:
Step 1: Follow the instructions
above to locate references to wills and probate in a Search Result. If a
digital image of the item is available online, an icon (a picture of a camera)
will appear next to the Item in a Search Result page.
Step 2: Navigate to the Item
page of the record you wish to view by clicking on the hyperlink for that Item.
For example, for the will with the reference number 2/023 the hyperlink
in the Search Result will appear like this: VPRS
7591/P0001/5.
Step 3: Click on the View digitised Item button (the file size is indicated
eg. 5145 KB).
Please Note: earlier digitised
wills and probate files can be quite large, around 10MB on average.
On slower connections these large files can take some time to download.
Step 4: The File Download dialogue box may appear. If it does,
click on either the Open button to view the record
or Save button to download a copy of the file to
your computer.
Please Note: You can use
Acrobat's zoom function to enlarge the image and read details.
More Information
See PROVguide 21
for information about ordering records in PROV’s collection, including
how to place an Alert on a record that has been ordered by another researcher.
See PROVguide 70
for information about Wills and Probate Records.
For help with ordering or downloading Wills and Probate records contact
PROV’s Help Desk
Tel: 1800 657 452
(toll free in Australia)
Email: ask.prov@dvc.vic.gov.au