Irish Wills Ordering Service

Have you located a reference to a will or letters of administration for your ancestor?

Order a digital copy of the document from us today.  We will send your copy by email within 5-10 working days.

Each Order Costs €40 – ↓Scroll Down To Online Order Form↓

Irish Wills

Although the majority of Irish wills were destroyed in the 1922 Public Records Office Fire, there are still wills that survived the fire as well substitutes that contain some of the information recorded on the destroyed documents. Of course there are also all of the wills and letters of administration that were proved after 1901 and escaped the fire.  In order to find out whether a will, letters of administration or a suitable substitute survive for your deceased ancestor you will need to consult either the Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858 or the Calendar of Wills and Administrations 1858-1984.  The details recorded in these indexes will be required for the order form below.  Please do not proceed with your order until you have consulted the relevant index or calendar.

Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858

For wills and administrations prior to 1858 you will need to check the Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858. This Index was compiled in 1999 by Eneclann and is a listing of all surviving testamentary records as well as substitutes, such as tax records and genealogical abstracts, that contain the pertinent details of the original document. We can only produce copies of documents that are listed in this index. The Index of Irish Wills 1484-1858 can be searched online at www.findmypast.ie. You must use the reference details from this index in the order form below.

Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1858-1910

From 1858 the responsibility for granting probate or administration was transferred from the Ecclesiastical Prerogative and Diocesan courts to the Civil District and Principal Registries. Each year produced a Calendar of Wills and Administrations granted for the entire country. If you are searching for a will for your ancestor who died after 1858, you must first consult these Calendars. While a large portion of these documents were destroyed in 1922, some of the District Registry Wills Books remain intact and contain a transcript of the will, but NOT the Administration. You can use the form below to determine whether the books for the District Registry in which your ancestor’s will was proved survive for the year of the grant.  Bear in mind that probate may have been granted up to 20 years after the year of death.  If the District Registry Will Book survives, you can order a copy of the relevant will. The Calendars of Wills and Administration from 1858 to 1910 for all 32 counties of Ireland are free to search at www.familysearch.org The details in the Calendar entry will be required for the order form below.

Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1911-1984

Wills and letters of administration were only lodged in the Public Records Office 20 years after they were granted.  This means that when the Public Records Office was destroyed in 1922, testamentary records from the previous 20 years had not yet been deposited.  If you find your ancestor in the Calendar of Wills and Administrations after 1901 you can order a copy of their will, administration and the supporting documentation, such as schedule of assets, using the form below. The Calendars from 1911-1920 are available on www.familysearch.org and the annual calendars from 1922-1982 can be downloaded from the website of the National Archives of Ireland. After 1918 the Calendars are only applicable to the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland.  Further information on wills proved in Northern Ireland after this date can be found on the PRONI website.

Please enter the information carefully. We will only order the document using the reference that you provide. We cannot refund your fee if the reference you supply is incorrect. On receipt of your order, we will obtain a copy of the document, which will be sent out to you by email within 5-7 working days.

The copy you will receive will not be certified and will not be suitable for legal purposes.  The copies are intended for private research only.  If you have a query about a will or letters of administration that is not met by our form below please contact us.

Copies of items will only be obtained according to the copyright permissions of the holding repository. Copies of items are provided on the understanding that no copy will be reproduced without the permission of the holding repository and copies are supplied for the purpose of research and private study only and not for publication in any form. By using Timeline’s Genealogy Clerk Service you are agreeing to the terms and conditions stated above.