Tipperary Wills - on IGP

General Information

Irish probates were handled by ecclesiastical courts up to 1858 and twenty-eight diocesan courts (known as consistory courts) existed. The highest court, with authority over all the ecclesiastical courts, was the Prerogative Court of Armagh (which operated from Dublin). If a person was wealthy, or had an estate that included property in more than one diocese (and was worth more than £5) then that person's Will would have been proved in the Prerogative Court.  If the Estate included property in England or Wales the Will may have been proven in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury or the Prerogative Court of York.

In 1858, the civil authorities & courts, took on the work of proving wills and administrations. The ecclesiastical courts were replaced by eleven District Will Registries and a Principal Probate Registry in Dublin. Each registry made copies of wills and administrations that it proved in 'Will and Admon books' and, after 20 years, sent the originals to the Public Record Office in Dublin. The originals and copies, of almost all records of the Principal Probate Registry (which also had jurisdiction as a district court over the counties of Dublin and Kildare) were destroyed in the fire that consumed the Public Record Office in 1922.  Copies of wills and administrations kept by other district registries have been gathered into the National Archives  of Ireland (Dublin) and the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (Belfast), where they remain grouped by district.

There is an exhaustive description of Ireland Probate Records on Familysearch.

Online Resources

• Will calendar entries for the District Probate Registries of Armagh, Belfast and Londonderry covering the period 1858-1965. View digital images of copy wills for Armagh, (1858-1918), Belfast (1858-1909) and Londonderry (1858-1899).
• PRONI Belfast E-Catalogue Pre 1858 Wills
• Calendars of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1922
• Irish Wills 1922-1982
• Ireland Calendar of Wills and Administrations, 1858-1920
• Wills & Probate in Birth, Marriage & Death (Parish Registers) 1484-1820 and WW1 Soldiers Wills
• Index to the prerogative wills of Ireland, 1536-1810
• Wills & Probates, Estates & Guardian Records
• Irish Tontines Annuitants 1766-1789. Discover your ancestor in Irish and English tontine records from 1766 to 1789. This collection comprises annuity statements, accounts of deaths, death certificates, and marriage certificates relating to the subscribers and nominees of the English tontine of 1789; the Irish tontines of 1773, 1775, and 1777; and the life annuities of 1766 to 1779.

Family Search  have digitised indexes & images of probate documents, memorials of deeds, conveyances and Wills 1708-1929.

• Post-1858 wills: copies can be ordered from the Probate Service or from UKDocuments for a  fee.
• Pre-1858 Wills: administrations and other probate records will be found in the Record Office holding the documents of the ecclesiastical (church) court where the will was proved.
• For English and Welsh records see TNA Leaflet: Will and Probate Records. Scottish testamentary records are held at the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh.
• Copies of wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury can be obtained for a fee from the National Archives via their Wills 1384-1858 page.
• Official search facility for finding the will of a soldier who died while serving in the British armed forces between 1850 and 1986.
• Tom's Wills - the index to UK wills 1931-1949.