Wills

[Shrop63]

Whats the easiest way to find out if someone left a will? Thanks.

[rosie99]

You don't give any idea of dates or country

If it is after 1858 England/Wales
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

You can order them, cost £1.50

[AllanUK]

Whats the easiest way to find out if someone left a will? Thanks.

Depending on the date and place you could search on Ancestry or Find My Past on the 'National Probate Calendar'

[horselydown86]

If it's pre-1858 start with the Prerogative Court of Canterbury here:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/advanced-search

Restrict the results to the PCC by putting PROB 11 into the box labelled "Search for or within references".

Roughly speaking, the PCC covers the southern half of England.  Oop north is covered by the Prerogative Court of York, which (unless I'm mistaken) is harder to search.

If you don't find anything, you have to check indexes for the archdiocese or archdioceses which cover the person's likely residence.  Use the internet as a starting point ie perform searches such as Chester wills online or Northamptonshire wills online as appropriate.

What is available at the archdiocese level varies greatly between locations.

[Jebber]

It’s wirth remembering that not all Wills go to Probate, especially if it is a small or simple estate.