Family Historian User Group

Hi,
Are any of you fellow family historians experts on probate?

I have a (possible) ancestor who married in 1805, hopefully as a widow (register doesn't say).
I now find that her first husband's Will was proved in 1828, although it was written in 1802. (No burial for either date).
Does anyone know whether such a long delay might be possible?
...Or have I got a big problem to work out?

[confused]
Grateful for any suggestions.
j.

ID:1847

Hi
I had a similar situation with one of my ancestors, Daniel Fox.  He died on 3 Oct 1842 and his will was probated on 5 July 1859, which was a month after his wife died.
Whether she knew about the will or it was only found after she died, I'll never know.
Hope this helps
Hilary

Many thanks for that - it's encouraging.  I hope that's what might have happened in this case.
J.

My 4xgreat grandfather died in 1785 and his will was probated in 1804. No idea why! His wife did not die until 1825. The archivist did not seem that surprised when we found it so it must happen sometimes.

Anne

I've no experience of this myself but found the comment below regarding pre 1858 probate on this web page:

http://www.mlfhs.org.uk/Infobase/Begin-Wills.htm

'Although the majority of wills were proved within a few months of the testator's death, there was no pressure to do so within any particular time limit. It is not uncommon to find a will proved several years after the death of the testator and a 20 year or longer delay is not unknown'

Joldies - if you get a copy of the will, the probate sheet that comes with it will say the date of the death. That could solve the problem of whether she was a widow or not!
Anne

Hi all,
Just returned from holidays and found all the extra replies.  
I now have a death for a chap with the right wife and children, in 1802 - one week after the will was written, so I'm hopeful this will turn out to be correct.  But why the delay?  Still no idea!
(Anne, I have a copy of the will (from Documents Online), but sadly it doesn't state when he died.  Oh well!)

Thank you all very much for your help and ideas.
joldies.