Administration of Effects??

[fridayjan]

I've found an entry in the Probate Calendar "20.7.1872 Administration of the effects of James Dean-Mortimer who died 7.10.1857 was granted at York to Sarah Dean-Mortimer, widow.  Effects under £300".

From reading other messages on here I'm presuming it won't be worth sending my £6 for a probate search?

Does anyone know if there is any way of finding out any more details about what was in this, or why it might have taken 15 years for the Administration to have been granted?

I haven't had any experience of sending for a probate search so far!!

Thanks for your help,

Janet

[pinefamily]

I don't know the exact details, but it is my understanding that when someone died without leaving a will, there was a complicated process to apply for administration.
And yes, it probably isn't worth the money to send away for it. 

[Valda]

Hi

It is probably unlikely to have taken 15 years for the process of administration unless a court case was involved. What would be more likely is that something occurred 15 years later that required the family to want a legal bit of paper and they went through the administration process. It wouldn't be particularly complicated in 1872. You would go to a solicitor (or do it yourself) and work out roughly the worth of the estate and then go through the probate process. It would just be the cost of the legal process that most families didn't bother with and the potential death duties they might incur with a estate that was not too large and where the inheritance was straightforward. Were there any events happening around 1872 in the family? Someone else's death for instance and the probating of their estate?


Regards

Valda

[fridayjan]

Thanks for your suggestions and comments.

I'm afraid my fingers/brain let me down and the date should have read 1874 (rather than 1872)  , but I haven't found any one else's death around that time - other than the 2nd wife of his step-father (his mother married 5 years after his birth and he married under his mother's maiden name of Mortimer). 

Maybe I should try the local newspapers and see if there's any mention of the family.

Thanks again,

Janet

[Valda]

Hi


Was his stepfather still alive? When his stepmother died would there be any claim on the estate of his step parents?


Regards

Valda