Irish wills

[lesleyhannah]

My hope is that even if he didn't leave a will, there will be something called a grant (I think that's the word) which will indicate who the estate was left to - this happened in the case of one of my relatives, which enabled us to make contact. If the uncle concerned was married it could name his wife which may be enough for us to contact her (if she wished to of course). A faint hope, I know, but worth trying.

[aghadowey]

Surely you'd be better first getting the death certificate to see his marital status (married, single, widowed or divorced)? and was he actually resident in Cork/Ireland when he died?
The death certificate would give you an exact date and with that you might be able to get an obituary from a local library.

[lesleyhannah]

We have applied for one but it's taken a long time to find out where to apply. We were given several addresses but so far without success. We are at present waiting to see whether the online application gives a result. The will is a 'belt and braces' attempt - hopefully one of them will give a result. It's possible that despite living in Bantry Bay the actual death took place in another part of Ireland - we don't know the circumstances so we're basing a lot on hearsay - and I'm not familiar with Irish registration procedures. I have been impressed with the speedy replies to my queries from the various agencies in Ireland.

[aghadowey]

It sounded from what you'd posted that he died in Bantry Bay. If he was merely in Ireland when he died then I think the Will (if any) couldn't be administered here in Ireland so you'll also need to know where he did live.

[lesleyhannah]

We believe he lived in Bantry Bay for some time before his death. This is confirmed by some info we found online. I'm just trying to imagine different possibilities - eg a relative of mine lived all her life in Hull but died whilst staying for a while with her sister in Nottingham (something I didn't know). It took ages to find her death cert because it had been registered in Nottingham and she had a very common surname so I'd assumed the Notts deaths were not her). This uncle probably did die in Bantry Bay - but I'm keeping all options open just in case we can't find the death cert there!

[hallmark]

http://www.irishgenealogy.ie/images/content/GRO_Documents/Form_for_DAHG_site.pdf

[lesleyhannah]

As promised, I'm letting you know about the reply I've received from Cork Probate Office.

They say that before a Will becomes a document of public record, a Grant of Probate has to be issued. If we don't have the date the Grant of Probate was issued we would have to pay for a search of their records. In order to carry out this search they require the name, address and date of death of the Deceased. If a Grant has been issued we would then have to order the will, the cost of which would be given with the search. They do not have an online credit card facility.

We don't have some of the information above (and don't have the date probate was granted) so we're closing this line of enquiry - it sounds like it could be quite an expensive route and still not yield any results. We're now pinning our hopes on getting the death certificate, and will let you know if we're successful. Hopefully the information will help others searching for wills in Ireland.

Thanks to everyone who helped

[heywood]

Thanks for the update.

All good wishes for the death certificate.

You could also try local newspapers to see if there is a mention of the death.

[hallmark]

Thanks for the update.

All good wishes for the death certificate.

You could also try local newspapers to see if there is a mention of the death.

..and his Will might not have been in Ireland!