DESCRIPTION: In 1852, the Utah Territorial Legislature provided that the Probate Court should have jurisdiction not only in estate and guardianship matters, but original jurisdiction in civil, criminal, and chancery cases. In 1874, the federal Poland Act revoked the jurisdiction of the Probate Court over all but divorce and probate cases. This series includes those cases handled by the Probate Court which are divorce cases. In 1887, the federal Edmunds-Tucker act revoked Probate Court jurisdiction in divorce cases.
Generally, case files include a number of discrete documents. These documents may include an initiating petition, summons and subpoenas issued to the parties in the case and to witnesses, bonds, exhibits, statements of fees, and other documents created and filed with the Court during the process of the trial action. Civil cases may include affidavits of publication of summons in those cases where the defendant was not served personally, as well as decrees detailing the disposition of the case.
Prior to 1878, Utah Territory had one of the most liberal divorce laws in the United States and did not require residency in order to obtain a divorce within the territory. A simple statement that the married couple could not live in peace and union together was sufficient grounds for the granting of a divorce decree. As such, once the establishment of the railroad system provided regular access to the territory in 1869, the Probate Court handled many divorces for persons who could not meet the stricter laws regarding the granting of divorces in their home states. In 1878, the territorial Legislature changed the law to require residency, thereby decreasing significantly the number of divorces handled by the Probate Court.
ARRANGEMENT: This series is arranged primarily numerically by case number, with case numbers assigned roughly in chronological order based on the filing date of the complaint. The assignment of case numbers makes it appear as if the court did not begin assigning case numbers until 1877 when the court case load increased substantially. At that point, the court started assigning case numbers at #25, perhaps to allow for earlier cases handled by the court to be assigned earlier case numbers as those cases reappeared in the court's holdings. The case numbers are consistent until case number 193, at which point the case numbers jump to 250, but this may not reflect a gap in the cases as no case numbers between 193 and 250 appear in the dockets either. There are some cases which were not assigned case numbers and these can be found at the end of the series: these are arranged in chronological order by filing date.
RELATED RECORDS: Series 4731, DIVORCE REGISTERS OF ACTIONS, consists of a listing of the individual documents filed in each case file and the dates on which those documents were filed. This series may also include records regarding divorces that have not survived in the case files series. Series 23694, DIVORCE MINUTE BOOK, documents the day-to-day activities of the court in handling these case files. Additional information on divorces can be found mixed with other civil, criminal, and probate activities of the court in the MINUTE BOOKS, series 25012 (1854-1872) and with the RECORD BOOKS, series 25004 (1853-1896).
FINDING AIDS: An electronic index to these case files has been created. The index includes the names of the parties, the case number (if applicable), the filing date of the complaint, and the box and folder numbers in which the case may be found.
To use the index, the researcher might find it helpful to know some of the procedures used in the creation of the index. For example, spelling of certain names was not always consistent throughout the documents in the files. Generally the manner of spelling was chosen from the person's signature if available. If the signature was not available, the most commonly-used form was taken for the index. Given the inconsistencies in spelling, researchers may find it helpful to search the electronic version of the index for a first name if the party for whom they are searching had an uncommon first name. The title/honorific field is used with names which include a designation such as Sr., Jr., or Mrs., or also occasionally for maiden names of women.