Liverpool & South West Lancashire FHS - Forum

Looking at Erika's question about Death Certificates and checking out some Probate Calendars has led to a question myself that somebody may have a suggestion to an answer.

I have been trying to find descendants of a family and because I knew the location in Yorkshire of some of those who died in the 1960's I have been checking out the Probate Calendar and discovered some listed, but I was surprised to discover one man whose probate was to Barclays Bank Limited. Ok I thought, he obviously doesn't have any descendants, his wife had died three years earlier.

But on checking the wife's probate she was listed correctly as a married woman but her Probate was also to Barclays Bank Limited.

Question - did her estate really go to the Bank or would they have merely been Executors? No legatees were mentioned in the Probate, but could there be in the Will? This question is obviously to save me the £6 if there was no family mentioned (I never discovered any children to the couple).

There was, I believe, a full cousin and also at least one half cousin still living at the time of the above couple's deaths. I don't think this would be a case of the bona vacantia since to be listed in the Probate Calendar there must have been a Will? yes?

The bank will simply be the Executors. All banks run Trustee Departments for this kind of business which does not come cheap. There must have been a will appointing them.

Yes I agree with that, but who would they have distributed the money to? Would there be people named in the Will that they were administering that are just not mentioned in the Probate? It seems unusual compared to all other probates.

The person(s) listed on the Probate Index are the named Executors in the will. The legatees of the will are not named in the Probate Index. The Executors of the will are the people who are then charged with carrying out the wishes of the person who made the will. To see how the person's effects are to be divided etc you need to get a copy of the will.

Sounds like it might be worth a £6 punt then, thanks.