Probate records — court records that deal with the distribution of a deceased person's estate — provide a lot of good genealogical information, such as a date of death, the names of surviving relatives and insight into the family's economic status.

The English and Welsh kept two types of probate records: wills and administrations (also known as letters of administration or just admons). If someone dies without a will, an administration appoints supervisors for the distribution of the estate. These documents provide much less information than wills do.