Maine, Aroostook County, Probate Records, 1837-2007

What is in This Collection?

The collection consists of probate indexes ,books, dockets, and estate files located in Houlton, Maine for the years 1837 to 2007. This collection is being published as images become available.

For a list of record categories currently published in this collection, select the Browse link from the collection landing page.

General Information About These Records Aroostook County was formed in 1839 from parts of Penobscot and Washington Counties. Wills, estates and other probate matters are under the jurisdiction of the County Register of Probate. The Probate Court has had several names over the years; the Widows and Orphans Court, the Poor Court, and the Court of Protection.

Probate records were court documents and may have involved loose papers and/or bound volumes. The records were generally known as an estate file or probate packet. These files included all documents related to estate settlement, including settlement papers, inventories, receipts, wills, and other records pertaining to the estates, including accounts, administrations, appraisals, minutes, bonds, petitions, guardianships, inventories, and settlements.

The Probate Court handles the following types of procedures:

• Adoptions
• Guardianships
• Conservatorships
• Change of Names
• Estates
• Trusts

Probate records are used to legally dispose of a person’s estate after his or her death. The probate process transfers the legal responsibility for payment of taxes, care and custody of dependent family members, liquidation of debts, and transfer of property title to heirs from the deceased to an executor or executrix if the deceased had made a will, to an administrator or administratrix if the deceased had not made a will, or to a guardian or conservator if the deceased had heirs under the age of twenty-one or if heirs were incompetent due to disease or disability.

The death date, residence, and other facts that were current at the time of the probate proceeding are quite reliable, though there is still a chance of misinformation. The records may omit the names of deceased family members and those who have previously received an inheritance, or the spouse mentioned may not be the parent of the children mentioned.

Additional records and/or images may be added to this collection in the future.

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What Can These Records Tell Me?

The following information may be found in these records:

• Name of testator or deceased
• Names of heirs such as spouse, children, and other relatives or friends
• Names of witnesses
• Residence of testator
• Lists of belongings, property, and so forth
• Document and recording dates (Sometimes the date of death will be given. Recording dates are also used to approximate event dates, i.e. a letter of administration was usually written shortly after the time of death.)

Collection Content

Sample Image

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  1896-8 Petition for Administration