Wills & Letters of Administration

Until 1832 there were no legal means of dealing with the estates of deceased persons in Western Australia. The estates of those who died in the colony between 1829 and 1831 were either administered in Great Britain, settled informally or settled later. In 1832 jurisdiction for the administration of deceased estates was vested in the newly established Civil Court of Western Australia and in 1861 jurisdiction was transferred to the Supreme Court.

Wills were thus registered and deposited with the Civil Court from 1832 and this was taken over by the Supreme Court of Western Australia in 1861, as were letters of administration granted when a person died intestate (without a will). Copies of wills and letters of administration for 1832-1947 can be viewed on microfilm.

There are two alphabetical microfiche indexes to wills and letters of administration covering 1832-1939 and 1900-1993 (see section Indexes and Catalogues for more details) and also nominal indexes. Probate and Administration files are also held but these are restricted for 75 years and permission must be obtained from the Supreme Court in order to view them.

Order in the Court and the State Records Office Catalogue can be consulted to ascertain Consignment numbers. There is also an information sheet produced by the State Records Office which is a guide to grants of probate (wills) and letters of administration. A name listing of all probate files from 1832-1935 can be found in Record Series 34 and a name listing of all administration files from 1832-1938 can be found in Record Series 59. As the individual names of people with probate or administration files have been added to the State Records Office Catalogue, they are now searchable by name. Copies of grants of probate (1832-1947) can be found in Record Series 56 and copies of letters of administration (1832-1947) can be found in Record Series 57. Further probate files (1943-1991) can be found in Record Series 2233. These files can contain a copy of the death certificate plus valuations of assets and property.