Did your ancestors leave an estate?

How to find out if your ancestors left wills when they passed away and how to find them? Let's take a look.

Inheritance declarations and death records are very useful documents in genealogy as they will help you reconstruct part of your family history and gain access to your ancestors' estate.

These declarations have been recorded since the end of the 18th century to confirm dates and collect taxes. - these are therefore documents from the tax administration.

Inheritance declarations are filed following declarations from town halls and hospitals or the steps taken by the heirs of a deceased person, within a minimum period of 6 months.

What information can we find in the estate and absence records?

These tables list, for a given period and specific territory (office), the deaths in alphabetical-chronological order.

The different death records can give us several interesting pieces of information:

• the first and last names of our ancestors,

• occupations,

• the date and place of death or recorded absence,

• age at death,

• what assets they owned and their values,

• the names and residences of the heirs and their relationship to the deceased,

• in case of a will: the date of its registration.

How to find your ancestor in the estate and absence records?

To find these estate and absence records, you will need to:

• know the notary office responsible based on your ancestor's place of death

• have an idea of the period of death

• consult the departmental archives - they can help you find the recording office linked to the town of death

• consult the AD websites or directly on site, the register corresponding to the estate and absence records.

• search for your ancestor's name in the alphabetical-chronological list

• summarize your findings: place and date of death, age at death, civil status, estates, heirs…

Note that: until and including 1824, it is the table of recorded deaths and absences that will be useful to you.

From 1825 onwards, you will need to consult the estate and absence records. This will inform you of the date and numbers of estate declarations.

Since 1866, there has been a single table: the estate and absence records. This will always guide you to the registers of declarations of transfers due to death.

Moreover, these documents are not always digitized and accessible online, so you will probably need to go directly to the departmental archives to access them.

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