The Santa Clara County Probate Cases Collection consists of approximately 7,500 cases heard by the Probate Court between 1850 and 1909, and 350 sets of probate vouchers that range from 1901 to 1913, and 1959 to 1968. Files may include wills, lists of heirs and family members, detailed lists of property, collections of claims by creditors, and various legal papers. This collection does not include all cases heard by the Probate Court—there are a number of gaps and missing cases.
This index was created by a group of SCCHGS volunteers. Each index entry includes the name of the decedent, the case number, the date of filing, and, often additional remarks. The case files are available to view in person at the Santa Clara County Archives. For a fee, our can obtain a copy of the important documents in the file.
Many names appear only in the comments. Search the index page using “Ctrl f” (PC) or “Command f” (Mac). Be sure to consider alternative spellings of the names you are researching.
An index called, “Santa Clara County Probate Case Collection Index” is posted on the Santa Clara County Archives website. Since that index was posted, additional probate files were moved to the Archives. These additional probates, along with many corrections and additional details of the original files are included in the index here.
