To look up a deceased person’s will online, go to the website of the probate court in the county where that person last lived and search its case records by the decedent’s full legal name. Probated wills are public records, and many county courts now let you view case dockets, and sometimes the scanned will itself, through their online portals. Whether you’ll actually find something depends on three things: whether the estate went through probate at all, whether that particular county has digitized its filings, and whether enough time has passed since the death for the court to process the case.
What to Gather Before You Search
Probate is a county-level process, so a useful search starts with knowing which county to look in. Before you open a court website, pull together:
- The person’s full legal name, plus any maiden names, former names, or common variations. Court databases match on what was filed, not on what people were called day to day.
- The county and state where the person lived at the time of death. A will is almost always filed in the county of last residence. If you only know the city, a quick lookup will tell you the county.
- An approximate date of death. Case indexes are chronological, and a date range cuts through duplicates when the name is common.
An obituary usually supplies the city and date if you don’t have them from family.
Searching the County Probate Court’s Website
Find the probate court for the correct county. Depending on the state, it may be called the probate court, the surrogate’s court, or the orphan’s court. A search along the lines of “[county name] probate court records” will usually surface the right site. Once you’re there, look for a section labeled Case Search, Court Records, or Probate Division.
Enter the decedent’s name and, if the form allows, a date range. Results appear as docketed cases, with the deceased person listed as the subject of the estate. Open the case to see what’s available. Some courts post scanned images of the will and every related filing; others show only the docket, which confirms a case exists but requires a separate request to see the documents themselves.
A few states run centralized portals that let you search probate filings across multiple counties at once. Most do not, so plan on going court by court.
Telling Official Court Sites From Commercial Lookup Services
A search for probate records will surface a mix of actual court websites and commercial “people search” services. The commercial sites often charge subscription fees for information the court itself provides free or for a small copying fee. Official court sites generally use .gov domains, though some local courts use .us or .org. If a site asks for a credit card before it will show you any results, it’s almost certainly an aggregator rather than a court. Look for the court’s name and county seal on the page and a URL that matches a government entity.
Why a Recent Will May Not Appear Yet
A will doesn’t become a court record automatically. Someone has to physically deliver it to the probate court, and most states give the person holding the will a set window, often 30 days, to do so after learning of the death. After the filing, the court still needs time to open the case and docket it. If you’re searching within days of the death and finding nothing, that doesn’t mean no will exists. Check back in a month or two.
Viewing the Will Versus Ordering a Certified Copy
For most people, reading the will on the court’s website or printing a copy is enough. You can see who the beneficiaries are, who was named executor, and how the assets were meant to be distributed.
A certified copy is different. It carries the clerk’s stamp confirming it matches the original on file, and you’ll need one to actually administer the estate. Banks, investment firms, and insurance companies typically won’t release funds without certified documentation. Recording a deed based on the will usually requires a certified copy, especially when property is in a different county or state. If assets sit in more than one state, courts in those other jurisdictions will want a certified copy before they’ll recognize the will’s authority. Certified copies are ordered from the probate court clerk for a per-page fee plus a certification charge, and most courts will take the request by mail.
When a Will Won’t Show Up in Court Records
Not every will goes through probate, and if it doesn’t, no court has a copy to put online. That happens more often than people expect:
- The assets bypassed probate entirely. Jointly held property passes to the surviving owner. Payable-on-death and transfer-on-death accounts go straight to the named beneficiary. Life insurance and retirement accounts with listed beneficiaries skip probate too. If every asset was arranged this way, there was nothing for a probate court to administer.
- A revocable living trust held the assets. The trust document controls distribution after death and is never filed with a court.
- The estate qualified as small. Every state offers simplified procedures for estates below a certain value, with thresholds ranging from around $15,000 in some states to $200,000 in others. In those cases the will may never be filed.
- There was no will. The estate then passes under the state’s intestacy laws, and there is no document to find.
If you’re confident a will exists but no probate case appears, the person likely used planning tools that made probate unnecessary. The family or the decedent’s attorney is usually the only route to a copy in that situation.
When Online Search Falls Short
Digitization is uneven. Many courts have put recent filings online without going back through older records, so wills from decades ago often exist only on paper in the courthouse. Smaller and rural counties sometimes offer no online case search at all. Some jurisdictions also limit what appears in public-facing systems even when the underlying record is public, redacting sensitive details or requiring an in-person visit for certain documents.
When online search doesn’t get you there, call or email the probate court clerk. The clerk can confirm whether a case was filed under the decedent’s name and explain how to request copies by mail or view the physical file in person. If you believe a will should have been filed and wasn’t, a probate attorney in the relevant county can advise you; most states let an interested person petition the court to compel whoever holds the will to deliver it.