Scottish Wills and Testaments
Scottish wills and testaments can provide useful information to those interested in discovering more about their Scottish family history.
A will is a document drawn up by someone whilst they are alive explaining how they would like their possessions to be distributed on their death. A testament on the other hand is used to describe all the documents relating to the deceased’s estate and the purpose of a testament is to allow the court to appoint an executor who will be responsible for settling the affairs of the individual’s estate on death. A testament could include a will and those that did are called testament testamentars whilst testaments that did not include a will are called testament datives.
A testament dative will provide a genealogist with the name of the deceased person, their occupation, their address, the date of the testament and the names of the executors, a list of possessions owned by the deceased and a confirmation by an official as to the validity of the testament.
A testament testamentar includes all the information disclosed by a testament dative but also importantly includes the will of the individual. The will describes how how the individual wishes to distribute his worldly goods to his family and friends.
The names listed can be researched by genealogists to see how they tie in with the deceased persons family tree as they may help to connect different family members. A will and testament is also a useful snapshot of an individual at a moment in time giving a glimpse into where the lived, who they liked or disliked as the case may be and what possessions they owned.
Whilst not everyone in Scotland left a will as there was no legal requirement to do so a number of Scots did. Whilst it can be generalised to say that those Scots who were well off were more inclined to leave a will this is not always the case and there are certainly a number of rich individuals who did not leave wills. Similarly the less well off individuals tended not to leave a will but some did and so regardless of whether your Scottish ancestors were rich or poor it is always worth looking to see if they left a will and testament.
Although testaments are normally issued shortly after death this is not always the case and when searching for a will and testament in the records it is worth checking up to several years after the death. The reason for this is that sometimes the will may have been disputed and required the courts to interevene and this could easily add a couple of years to the testament date.
Wills and testaments between 1513 and 1901 are available on the Scotlandspeople website and these can be searched for free however there is a charge to view a will and testament. Wills from 1901 to around 2000 will have been indexed by the National Archives of Scotland. The will and testament of someone who has died in the last 10 years or so will not be available from the National Archives yet instead they can be obtained from the Commissary Department, Edinburgh Sheriff Court, 27 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LB.
If you do find a will of a Scottish ancestor then if it is an old will you may encounter some difficulty reading the handwriting and if this is the case a useful website which might help you to decipher the text is the Scottish Handwriting site.
Remember where there is a will there is a way to uncover your Scottish family history.
A will is a document drawn up by someone whilst they are alive explaining how they would like their possessions to be distributed on their death. A testament on the other hand is used to describe all the documents relating to the deceased’s estate and the purpose of a testament is to allow the court to appoint an executor who will be responsible for settling the affairs of the individual’s estate on death. A testament could include a will and those that did are called testament testamentars whilst testaments that did not include a will are called testament datives.
A testament dative will provide a genealogist with the name of the deceased person, their occupation, their address, the date of the testament and the names of the executors, a list of possessions owned by the deceased and a confirmation by an official as to the validity of the testament.
A testament testamentar includes all the information disclosed by a testament dative but also importantly includes the will of the individual. The will describes how how the individual wishes to distribute his worldly goods to his family and friends.
The names listed can be researched by genealogists to see how they tie in with the deceased persons family tree as they may help to connect different family members. A will and testament is also a useful snapshot of an individual at a moment in time giving a glimpse into where the lived, who they liked or disliked as the case may be and what possessions they owned.
Whilst not everyone in Scotland left a will as there was no legal requirement to do so a number of Scots did. Whilst it can be generalised to say that those Scots who were well off were more inclined to leave a will this is not always the case and there are certainly a number of rich individuals who did not leave wills. Similarly the less well off individuals tended not to leave a will but some did and so regardless of whether your Scottish ancestors were rich or poor it is always worth looking to see if they left a will and testament.
Although testaments are normally issued shortly after death this is not always the case and when searching for a will and testament in the records it is worth checking up to several years after the death. The reason for this is that sometimes the will may have been disputed and required the courts to interevene and this could easily add a couple of years to the testament date.
Wills and testaments between 1513 and 1901 are available on the Scotlandspeople website and these can be searched for free however there is a charge to view a will and testament. Wills from 1901 to around 2000 will have been indexed by the National Archives of Scotland. The will and testament of someone who has died in the last 10 years or so will not be available from the National Archives yet instead they can be obtained from the Commissary Department, Edinburgh Sheriff Court, 27 Chambers Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1LB.
If you do find a will of a Scottish ancestor then if it is an old will you may encounter some difficulty reading the handwriting and if this is the case a useful website which might help you to decipher the text is the Scottish Handwriting site.
Remember where there is a will there is a way to uncover your Scottish family history.