Probate Records Project
The Probate Records Project is a partnership project between NBGS and the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB). The University of New Brunswick (UNB) was hired to scan the reels of microfilm provided by PANB. Volunteers at NBGS are working on indexing the records and creating a database that will be searchable by name.
The probate records will only be available to NBGS members.
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What are probate records? "Probate Court Records (RS71) Probate is the legal validating of a will or settling of an estate if no will exists. It empowers the executor to act on behalf of the deceased to disburse the assets of the estate. Prior to 1984, each county in the province had a court of probate. Following legislation passed in 1983, the province was divided into nine (9) judicial districts for the purpose of probate. Probate Court Files These may include some of the following documents: wills, petitions, affidavits letters testamentary, letters of administration, inventories, bonds, renunciations, correspondence, and other items. Probate Court Books contain transcripts of the basic legal documents found in the files but there have been instances of something being in the books and not in the files." |
What is included in the Probate Records Project?
The project consists of 486 reels of microfilm covering all fifteen counties.
- Charlotte – 84 reels
- Kings – 82 reels
- Saint John – 72 reels
- York – 65 reels
- Carleton – 33 reels
- Queens – 28 reels
- Westmorland – 25 reels
- Restigouche – 23 reels
- Sunbury – 20 reels
- Victoria – 17 reels
- Albert – 11 reels
- Northumberland – 10 reels
- Gloucester – 8 reels
- Kent – 5 reels
- Madawaska – 3 reels
There are two types of records:
- Probate files (file folders filled with various documents and receipts)
- Probate books (records of the court in ledger format)
Probate records can hold a wealth of genealogical information. The names captured for this project are in two classifications of people.
- “The Estate of” is the person who is either the deceased, or a minor being granted guardianship for their inheritance.
- “Other” is the category for the names of the heirs, next of kin, beneficiaries, executors and/or administrators.
- Names of people who did not fit these categories were not recorded.
Progress Report:
As of 16 November 2025, our volunteers have indexed and proofread 233 microfilm reels which is nearly half of the project.
A contract between PANB, UNB and NBGS was signed on 11 March 2024. Scanning the microfilm began almost immediately and took seven months to complete. Indexing began once the first batch of scanned images was delivered to NBGS, and is ongoing.