Online Catalogue – Ordering Wills and Probate Records

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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