National probate calendar

[Dave Wardle]

An extract from the national Probate calendar states the name, address and date of death. Then it states Probate in a certain place on a certain date to a certain person or persons, it then states Effects and a sum of money. Is the person or persons the sole benefactor of the will, and are the Effects the amount to be inherited ?

[Maggsie]

Hi,
I would say, you would have to read the actual will.
It would depend on what was stated if any of the named persons of the will died before the will writer, if the will writer had stated that their share was to be spilt between or left to another.
Such as............
I leave my Christmas pudding to my maid but if she dies before me, the gardener is to have it.
If that was not stated then the everyone named would have a spoonful.
I had to do it like that, sorry.
Have you written your Will?
Maggsie

[crisane]

The person mentioned in the probate record is the person appointed/verified by the courts to dispose of the deceased assets. They may or may not be a beneficiary.

[carol8353]

The person named will be the executor (sometimes a bank or a solicitor) and the effects is how much the estate was worth. As has been said you'd need to see the actual will (order online for £10) to find out how the estate was divided.Some wills are more useful than others.

Make sure it is a will,ie that probate has been granted,rather than any that say "administration" as that often means the sum involved was only small and the person didn't leave a will.

Carol

[Dave Wardle]

Thankyou all for your help. I was tempted to wrongly jump to the conclusion that the executors had inherited the whole estate, I'm more clear on what this record is telling me now. Thanks again.

[GrahamSimons]

And a further complication is that the value of the estate doesn't always include real property, just moveable property. I can't remember offhand when that change took place, but in Victorian times.
And there's more - don't know whether this has changed but when I was an executor in the 1980s there was an agreed value with the taxman for household contents, and that was very low, I think £100 or something. So this would skew the apparent value of relatively small estates.

[dobfarm]

Hi,
I would say, you would have to read the actual will.
It would depend on what was stated if any of the named persons of the will died before the will writer, if the will writer had stated that their share was to be spilt between or left to another.
Such as............
I leave my Christmas pudding to my maid but if she dies before me, the gardener is to have it.
If that was not stated then the everyone named would have a spoonful.
I had to do it like that, sorry.
Have you written your Will?
Maggsie

Would the Xmas pudding have contained gold sovereigns & booze in the pud 

[Maggsie]

Of course!
Maggsie

[dobfarm]

Of course!
Maggsie

Merry Xmas  Enjoy !