Series 1532

DISTRICT COURT (FIRST DISTRICT : CACHE COUNTY) [1686]

PROBATE CASE FILES, 1864-[ongoing]

A separate agency history is available.

DESCRIPTION: A collection of all documents and actions pertaining to the probate of wills following death which have been filed with the court clerk make up the probate case files. Some guardianships and commitments are included. Records and documents pertaining to a particular action are filed together by the court clerk, who is required by the Rules of Civil Procedure to file pleadings and other legal papers. Collectively they constitute the case file. Case numbers are assigned by the court when papers are initially filed with the clerk.

Files for probate cases include such documents as wills, decrees, continuations of hearings, discharges, petitions, notices, bonds, letters testamentary, testimonies, findings of fact and conclusions of law, commitments, affidavits, proof of publication, appraisements, reports, orders, depositions, property inventories, etc.

ARRANGEMENT: The Cache County probate case files are arranged numerically by consecutive case number.

RESEARCH NOTE: Evidently numbers began to be assigned approximately 1914. Cases filed in the district court since statehood as well as some originally filed with the Cache County Probate Court (1881-1896) presumably were assigned numbers according to the date of filing. These cases have logical numbers at the beginning of the numbering scheme, however, over 60 territorial cases from 1864-1893 were initially overlooked. These were assigned numbers 1226-1289. Case numbers 1288-1473 were not assigned.

Reference service on probate cases filed from 1970 to the present is provided by the Cache County District Court Clerk.

RELATED RECORDS: Corresponding case numbers are available through the PROBATE INDEX (Series 22659). Case numbers as well as a summary of actions filed in probate cases, including a brief abstract of motions and orders, the amount of fees collected, and the eventual disposition, are noted in the PROBATE REGISTER OF ACTIONS (Series 22724). A daily record of documents filed and actions taken with regard to every matter brought before each session of the court is found in the PROBATE MINUTE BOOKS (Series 22905). Copies of wills, bonds, letters testamentary, and related documents are transcribed in PROBATE RECORD BOOKS (Series 767). Case files for ADOPTIONS (Series 13838) were removed at the time of filming.

FINDING AIDS: A research guide on court records is available for patron use.

CUSTODY HISTORY: The Cache County Clerk was constitutionally designated as ex-officio clerk of First District Court in and for Cache County until 1989 when the state assumed full financial and administrative responsibility for the district court. At that time a new court clerk was appointed. The district court clerk transferred probate case files to the state archives in May 1994.

PROCESSING NOTE: Case files were designated as a permanent record by Records Disposition Request 1979-52, which also authorized microfilming and destruction of the original records. The records retention policy of the Utah Judicial Council reprinted in the 1983 state retention schedule first specified a nine-year retention before microfilming. Microfilming of cases 1-34 by the Utah State Archives was completed in July 2001. Filming of the bulk of the probate case files by Utah Correctional Industries (UCI) took place between June 1994 and December 1996. Adoption case files (which are sealed for 100 years) were removed during filming and transferred to a new series. The probate case files were archivally processed by W. Glen Fairclough, Jr., in May 2000.

PREFERRED CITATION: Cite the Utah State Archives and Records Service, the creating agency name, the series title, and the series number.

GAPS IN THE SERIES: A target on reel 35 incorrectly lists as missing cases 1288-1473. Case numbers 1288-1473 were not assigned, resulting in an apparent 185-case number gap.

CONTAINER LIST

See PDF file for full container list.