Probate records are held by the court or officer that administers estates where the decedent lived. In most states that is a county office. In some states it is not, and starting from the wrong unit is why searches come back empty.
Jonathan Khorsandi on Oct 08, 2026
Probate records are held by the court or officer that administers estates where the decedent lived. In most of the country that unit is the county, which is why "probate records by county" is the right search. In six places it is not the county at all, and starting from the wrong unit is the most common reason a search comes back empty.
The second thing to get right is the access route. Probate records are court records. They are governed by court rules and the common-law right of access, and you request them from the clerk, the register or the court's own records office. State public records acts, the ones written for agencies, generally do not reach the judiciary, so a request drafted under one lands on a desk it does not apply to.
Everything below is the structure: who holds estate files in each state, which searches actually exist, what a probate file will and will not tell you, and how to get from a filing to a property with a name attached to it.
Yes, as a general rule, and the presumption is strong. Court files are open under the common-law right of access recognised in Nixon v. Warner Communications, Inc., and every state layers its own rules of judicial administration on top. You do not need to be an heir, an attorney or a party to read an estate file.
Three qualifications matter more than the general rule.
The access route is court rules, not a public records act. This is worth being precise about, because the wrong route wastes weeks. In Texas, Government Code § 552.0035 states that access to judicial records is governed by rules adopted by the Supreme Court of Texas or by other applicable laws and rules, and expressly not by the Public Information Act. California's Public Records Act reaches state and local agencies; the judicial branch is outside it, and access to California court records runs under the California Rules of Court. Florida judicial records are governed by Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.420, not by Chapter 119. In each case the practical instruction is the same: ask the clerk of the court under the court's own records rules.
While we are here, Florida's "Government-in-the-Sunshine Law" is Chapter 286, and it is an open meetings law. The records statute is the Public Records Act at Chapter 119. Neither one is how you get an estate file.
Public does not mean digitised. Plenty of courts publish a docket online and hold every document in paper. A blank result in an online search is evidence about the search, not about the estate.
Public does not mean complete. Two of the highest-volume states in the country put the estate's value out of reach. Florida makes an inventory filed with the clerk confidential under Fla. Stat. § 733.604(1)(b), releasable only to the personal representative, their attorney, an interested person, or by court order. In Texas, an independent executor may file an affidavit in lieu of inventory under Estates Code § 309.056, which states that debts are covered and lists no assets at all.
In the place where the decedent was legally domiciled at death, not where they died and not where the property sits. That rule is close to universal. What varies is which office the rule points at.
| State | Court or office that administers estates | Where the file sits |
|---|---|---|
| California | Superior Court, Probate Division, in each of 58 counties | County court clerk |
| Texas | Statutory probate court, statutory county court at law, or constitutional county court | County clerk |
| Florida | Circuit Court, Probate Division, in each of 67 counties | Clerk of the Circuit Court |
| New York | Surrogate's Court in each of 62 counties | County Surrogate's Court |
| New Jersey | Surrogate's Court in each of 21 counties | County Surrogate |
| Pennsylvania | Register of Wills, with disputes to the Orphans' Court Division | County Register of Wills |
| Maryland | Register of Wills, with disputes to the Orphans' Court | County Register of Wills, indexed statewide |
| Georgia, Michigan, Ohio | Standalone county Probate Court | County probate court |
| Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Oregon | Circuit Court, probate division | Circuit clerk |
| North Carolina | Clerk of Superior Court, sitting as judge of probate | County clerk |
| Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Oklahoma, Kansas, Minnesota | Superior or District Court, probate matters | County clerk |
| Wisconsin | Circuit Court, probate branch | County Register in Probate |
The claim that every county in the United States maintains probate records is false in enough of the country to matter. Six exceptions, and each one breaks a different assumption.
| Where | What is different |
|---|---|
| Connecticut | 54 probate districts, not counties. Connecticut abolished county government in 1960, and the Probate Courts run as one statewide system under a Probate Court Administrator |
| Rhode Island | Probate is municipal. Each of the 39 cities and towns runs its own probate court through the town or city clerk |
| Alaska | No counties at all. Estates are handled by the Superior Court across four judicial districts, with boroughs playing no role |
| Louisiana | 64 parishes, not counties, and the proceeding is a succession, filed in district court. Searching for "probate" in Louisiana finds little |
| Vermont | Probate divisions of the Superior Court in 14 units, run as part of the state judiciary rather than by counties |
| Maine | 16 county probate courts that sit outside the state Judicial Branch entirely, each run by an elected Register of Probate |
Texas court structure does not turn on county size. Under Estates Code Chapter 32, the constitutional county court has original probate jurisdiction by default. Where a county has a statutory county court at law, that court exercises concurrent jurisdiction. Where the legislature has created a statutory probate court, that court takes it. Harris County has five statutory probate courts, Dallas County has three, Bexar County has three, and Travis County has one. Venue is set separately by Estates Code § 33.001, at the county of domicile or fixed place of residence.
Testate means a valid will. You get a petition to probate, a named executor, and letters testamentary. The estate's direction is usually settled from the start.
Intestate means no valid will. You get a petition for letters of administration and a court-appointed administrator, and the state's intestacy statute decides who inherits. These are frequently the more productive filings, because several heirs who never planned for the situation now jointly own a house none of them lives in.
Start with the office that holds the file, then work down this list until one route produces the case number. There is no national probate database, and there is no vendor that has quietly built one.
| Route | What it gets you | Where it works |
|---|---|---|
| The court's own case search | Docket and case status, rarely documents | Most large counties, inconsistently elsewhere |
| A statewide index | Every jurisdiction in the state from one search box | Maryland, Maine, Connecticut. Nowhere else in this coverage set |
| A written request to the clerk or register | Copies of specific documents, under the court's records rules | Everywhere, and the only route in some counties |
| A courthouse visit or terminal | The complete file, including anything not imaged | Everywhere, and the only complete route in many counties |
| A third-party court records vendor | Varies by contract, often documents the county search omits | Counties that have contracted one; coverage and fees vary |
The statewide exception is worth naming precisely, because the usual national claim that no state-level clearinghouse exists is wrong three times over. The Maryland Estate Search covers all 24 Maryland jurisdictions free, and searches by decedent name, personal representative, attorney, date of death, estate type and status. MaineProbate.net covers all 16 county registers. Connecticut's probate courts operate as a single system rather than 169 separate ones. In every other state in this set, it is county by county.
Two things not to do. Do not draft a state public records act request to a court; see above. And do not treat a state's flagship court portal as a probate search without checking. Pennsylvania's UJS portal does not carry Orphans' Court at all, Maryland's Judiciary Case Search does not carry estates, and Maine's re:SearchMaine does not either. In each case the portal is real, well known, and the wrong tool.
There is no single national lag figure, and any guide quoting one is guessing. Three separate delays stack, and they vary by state and by county:
The practical consequence is not a number, it is a habit: check the court's own stated update cadence before you build a workflow on top of it, and re-run searches rather than assuming a single pull was complete.
Understanding the specific fields is what separates people who use this data from people who chase incomplete leads. The table below marks how reliably each field is actually available, because national guides tend to list the best case and stop.
| Field | What it tells you | How reliably public |
|---|---|---|
| Decedent name and date of death | Case age and urgency | Always |
| Personal representative name and address on file | Who has authority, and where to write | Always; the address is as of filing and may be stale |
| Case number and filing date | How to track the case, and the clock | Always |
| Case status | Open, active, closed, distributed | Always on the docket, not always online |
| Attorney of record | Usually the better first contact on larger estates | Where one is named |
| Heir or beneficiary names | Who to contact if the representative is unreachable | Usually, in the petition |
| Real property address or parcel number | The specific asset | Inconsistently; often absent from the petition |
| Estate value | Whether it is worth pursuing | Not reliably. Sealed in Florida, frequently unfiled in Texas |
Two corrections to the standard version of this table.
Use "personal representative", not "executor". Executor means someone named in a will. Administrator means someone appointed without one. Personal representative is the umbrella term the codes use, and it is the term that will match the record in an intestate estate, which is the majority of what you will find.
Authority to sell is conditional, not automatic. The personal representative is the person who can sign, but whether they can sign without going back to the court depends on the state and the grant. In California, a representative granted limited authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act must obtain court supervision for a sale of real property under Probate Code § 10501(b). In Texas, a dependent administration requires a court order for a sale, while an independent administration generally does not. Reading the letters and the order of appointment tells you which conversation you are about to have.
The filing tells you an estate exists. Six more steps tell you whether it is worth your time.
1. Search the county of domicile, not the property county. Venue follows where the person lived. An estate opened in one county routinely holds a house in another. Find the case first, then follow the assets.
2. Pull the full docket, not the petition. Check whether letters have actually been issued, whether a contest or caveat has been filed, and whether the representative has been discharged. A discharged estate is closed and the property has already moved. A contested one is slower, and often more motivated.
3. Do not expect the file to value the estate. In Florida the inventory is sealed by statute. In Texas an affidavit in lieu of inventory lists nothing. Even where an inventory is filed, it may be months behind. Treat estate value as something you derive, not something you read.
4. Go to the assessor or property appraiser for the property. Match the decedent's name and last known address against the county assessor, property appraiser or appraisal district to identify the parcel, the last recorded owner and the tax status. Delinquent taxes on an open estate is the clearest motivation signal available in public data.
5. Identify who can actually sign, and on what terms. Read the letters. Note the type of administration and whether the authority is independent, dependent, full or limited. Where an attorney of record is named, they are usually the better first contact; probate attorneys carry several clients who need to sell and refer the professionals they trust.
6. Work a follow-up cadence, not a single touch. Most estates run 6 to 18 months. A personal representative who says no in month two is a different conversation in month seven. A 90-day cadence across your counties is what separates the people who close probate deals from the people who collect lists.
Each guide below covers the court structure for that state, the counties ProbateData covers, verified contact details, which counties have a working online search and which do not, statutory fees and the deadlines that keep an estate generating public filings.
| State | Where estate records sit | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Superior Court, probate, by county | Arizona probate records |
| Arkansas | Circuit Court, probate division | Arkansas probate records |
| California | Superior Court, Probate Division | California probate records |
| District of Columbia | Superior Court Probate Division, Register of Wills | District of Columbia probate records |
| Florida | Clerk of the Circuit Court, probate | Florida probate records |
| Georgia | County Probate Court, one in each of 159 counties | Georgia probate records |
| Illinois | Circuit Court, probate division | Illinois probate records |
| Indiana | Circuit or Superior Court, county clerk | Indiana probate records |
| Kansas | District Court, probate | Kansas probate records |
| Maine | County Probate Court, Register of Probate | Maine probate records |
| Maryland | Register of Wills, indexed statewide | Maryland probate records |
| Massachusetts | Probate and Family Court divisions | Massachusetts probate records |
| Michigan | County Probate Court | Michigan probate records |
| Minnesota | District Court, probate division | Minnesota probate records |
| Missouri | Circuit Court, Probate Division | Missouri probate records |
| Nevada | District Court, probate | Nevada probate records |
| New Jersey | County Surrogate's Court | New Jersey probate records |
| New York | County Surrogate's Court | New York probate records |
| North Carolina | Clerk of Superior Court as judge of probate | North Carolina probate records |
| Ohio | County Probate Court | Ohio probate records |
| Oklahoma | District Court, probate | Oklahoma probate records |
| Oregon | Circuit Court, probate department | Oregon probate records |
| Pennsylvania | County Register of Wills | Pennsylvania probate records |
| Texas | County clerk, probate | Texas probate records |
| Virginia | Circuit Court clerk | Virginia probate records |
| Washington | Superior Court, county clerk | Washington probate records |
| Wisconsin | Register in Probate, Circuit Court | Wisconsin probate records |
26 states plus the District of Columbia, and 149 county-level jurisdictions. The full list is at probatedata.com/counties, and it is the only number worth quoting, because it is the one that gets maintained.
Every lead is a verified court filing with a case number, not a death record and not a pre-probate prediction. Each one carries the property records matched to the estate, the personal representative skip traced with mailing address, phone and email where available, the attorney of record where one is named, and MLS tracking so you can see whether the property has already listed. The most recent owner of record comes with it. Tax assessment history, comparable sales and prior ownership chains do not.
The manual version of this is legitimate and it works. It is also five separate court systems for a single metro, two or three of which have no usable online search, assessor cross-referencing on every case, and skip tracing after that. Four hours a week per county is a fair estimate, which is most of a working week each month before a single call is made. That is the trade being made, and it is worth making deliberately rather than by default.
You can start a 7-day trial for $1 and search your counties directly, or read the state guide above for the market you actually work.
Yes, as a general rule. Estate files are court records and are open under the common-law right of access, and you do not need to be an heir, an attorney or a party. Two limits matter in practice: public does not mean digitised, since many courts publish only a docket online and hold every document in paper, and public does not mean complete, since Florida seals estate inventories and Texas independent executors may file an affidavit in lieu of inventory.
Identify the county or district where the decedent was domiciled at death, then work down four routes until one produces a case number: the court's own online case search, a statewide index if the state has one, a written request to the clerk or register under the court's records rules, and a courthouse visit or public terminal. Some counties have a third-party records vendor as a fifth route. Only Maryland, Maine and Connecticut offer a genuine statewide search.
Generally no, and this is the most common mistake in probate research. Court records are governed by rules of judicial administration and the common-law right of access rather than by the acts written for executive agencies. Texas Government Code 552.0035 expressly places judicial records outside the Public Information Act, California's Public Records Act does not reach the judicial branch, and Florida judicial records fall under Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.420 rather than Chapter 119. Request the file from the clerk of the court instead.
No. Probate is administered locally in every state, and no federal or commercial system aggregates every filing. Three states in this coverage set index estates statewide: Maryland through the Estate Search covering all 24 jurisdictions, Maine through MaineProbate.net covering all 16 county registers, and Connecticut through a single statewide probate court system. Everywhere else, a search means going county by county.
No. Connecticut has 54 probate districts and abolished county government in 1960. Rhode Island runs probate through its 39 cities and towns. Alaska has no counties and handles estates in the Superior Court. Louisiana has parishes and calls the proceeding a succession. Vermont uses probate divisions of the Superior Court, and Maine's 16 county probate courts sit outside the state Judicial Branch entirely.
Not reliably, and not in the two states with the deepest probate coverage. Florida Statute 733.604(1)(b) makes an inventory filed with the clerk confidential, releasable only to the personal representative, their attorney, an interested person or by court order. Texas Estates Code 309.056 lets an independent executor file an affidavit in lieu of inventory that lists no assets at all. Derive value from the county assessor or property appraiser instead of expecting to read it off the file.
The personal representative, which is the umbrella term covering an executor named in a will and an administrator appointed where there is none. That authority is conditional rather than automatic. A California representative with limited authority under the Independent Administration of Estates Act needs court supervision for a sale of real property under Probate Code 10501(b), and a Texas dependent administration needs a court order. The letters and the order of appointment tell you which applies.
There is no single national figure, and any guide quoting one is guessing. Three delays stack: the estate has to be opened, which can take days to months after death, the clerk has to docket and index the case, and the searchable index has to refresh. Maryland's Estate Search posts entries the business day after they are entered, while other counties refresh nightly, weekly, or on no published schedule. Check the court's own stated cadence before building a workflow on it.
