Series 4654District Court (Second District : Davis County) Probate case files
Dates: 1870-
16.00 cubic feet and 15 microfilm reels
These records are housed in the Utah State Archives' permanent storage room.
Scope and Content
Probate case files primarily involve the probate of estates for deceased persons and guardianship for minors and incompetent persons. Probate is judicial oversight of property in transition. Probate of estates is the process by which a deceased person's property is identified and maintained, his debts and taxes paid, and then remaining property distributed to beneficiaries as specified in a will or as required by law for persons who die intestate (without a will). In guardianship cases probate is the establishment of a guardian for minors or incompetent adults who hold property that needs management. In addition to probate these case files also include name changes and some adoptions. Most adoption records in this series are closed to public access (see access restrictions note).
The probate process includes three parts. First, a petitioner must file with the court the documents necessary to have the court appoint a representative. Documents relating to this process include wills, petitions, letters of administration, bonds, etc., and a court order appointing an administrator, executor, or guardian. Second, the appointed representative does all that is necessary to manage the property through the period of transition. Documents filed here might include a court order appointing appraisers, notices to creditors, estate inventories, various kinds of financial statements, receipts, bills, and the court-appointed representative's final report. Finally, when all requirements have been met, such as all bills paid or a minor has become of age, the court mandates a final settlement and releases the representative from any further responsibility.
Arrangement
Numerical by case number.
Related Records
Minute Books from the District Court (Second District : Davis County), Series 4681, can be used to identify individual case files that appear in this series.
Probate record books from the District Court (Second District : Davis County), Series 4733, contains copies of compiled judgments and orders from this series.
Estate registers from the District Court (Second District : Davis County), Series 23717, contains information on estates that were probated by the court.
Custody History
Boxes were transferred to the State Archives from the Second District Court in Farmington in 1990. Microfilm copies of historic case files were transferred from the court to the Utah State Archives in December 2014.
Additional Forms
This series is available on microfilm.
Copies of these records are located at FamilySearch View Online.
Access Restrictions
Utah law, enacted in 1941, sealed all adoption records with the exception that they can be released upon a court order expressly permitting inspection (Laws of Utah, 1941, chapter 17, 14-1-15). This restriction has subsequently been amended (1999) to allow public access one hundred years after the date of final decree or access as provided for in a mutual consent registry (Utah Code 78-30-15, 18). The probate division's jurisdiction over adoptions preceded the enactment of these laws and therefore many adoption records were filed and microfilmed among probate cases. Utah State Archives staff supervises access to this series in order to provide access to probate records, but not to adoption records.
Preferred Citation
Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.
Gaps in Series
Probate case files 878 to 1656 (1939-1959) are missing, and the court has reported them as lost.
Processing Note
This series was processed by Jim Kichas in January 2015.
Indexing Terms
- Civil Procedure and Courts
Container List
| BOX | DATE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1872-1896 | 1-69 |
| 2 | 1872-1896 | 70-108 |
| 3 | 1872-1896 | 110-134 |
| 4 | 1872-1896 | 136-162 |
| 5 | 1872-1896 | 164-198 |
| 6 | 1872-1896 | 206-254 |
| 7 | 1872-1896 | 256-290 |
| 8 | 1872-1896 | 294-332 |
| 9 | 1896-1911 | 1-34 |
| 10 | 1896-1911 | 35-64 |
| 11 | 1896-1911 | 65-90 |
| 12 | 1896-1911 | 91-118 |
| 13 | 1896-1911 | 119-139 |
| 14 | 1896-1911 | 146-173 |
| 15 | 1896-1911 | 174-189 |
| 16 | 1896-1911 | 191-208 |
| REEL | DATE | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1872-1882 | 6-119 |
| 2 | 1880-1889 | 120-230 |
| 3 | 1889-1895 | 232-332 |
| 4 | 1896-1901 | 1-53 |
| 5 | 1901-1906 | 54-132 |
| 6 | 1906-1911 | 133-208 |
| 7 | 1912-1915 | 196-277 |
| 8 | 1915-1918 | 278-337 |
| 9 | 1918-1920 | 338-400 |
| 10 | 1920-1922 | 401-457 |
| 11 | 1922-1928 | 458-586 |
| 12 | 1928-1932 | 587-660 |
| 13 | 1932 | 661-670 |
| 14 | 1932-1933 | 671-685 |
| 15 | 1933 | 686-697 |
| 16 | 1933-1934 | 698-711 |
| 17 | 1934 | 712-725 |
| 18 | 1934-1935 | 726-734 |
| 19 | 1935 | 735-747 |
| 20 | 1935-1936 | 748-766 |
| 21 | 1936 | 767-780 |
| 22 | 1936-1937 | 781-800 |
| 23 | 1937 | 801-813 |
| 24 | 1937 | 813-825 |
| 25 | 1938 | 826-841 |
| 26 | 1938 | 842-858 |
| 27 | 1938-1939 | 859-877 |
| 28 | 1959-1960 | 1657-1683 |
| 29 | 1960-1961 | 1684-1763 |
| 30 | 1961-1963 | 1764-1838 |
| 31 | 1963-1964 | 1839-1904 |
| 32 | 1964-1965 | 1905-1982 |
| 33 | 1965-1967 | 1983-2057 |
| 34 | 1967-1968 | 2058-2128 |
| 35 | 1968-1969 | 2129-2212 |
| 36 | 1969-1970 | 2213-2293 |
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