Probate Districts by Town

Connecticut Probate Courts

This is a comprehensive guide to the probate court resources at the Connecticut State Library, and to Connecticut probate files and record books that have been digitized and are available through FamilySearch. This guide is only intended to help those doing historical or genealogical research; for any current probate matters, please contact the proper district court.

Probate matters in Connecticut are conducted by small district probate courts with elected judges. Probate districts have come in all shapes and sizes throughout Connecticut's history, from comprising many towns over a wide area to being composed of only a single town. Each Connecticut town has a unique probate history, with many towns having belonged to several different districts at different times. 

Court expansion and consolidation

Probate matters, which most often concern the disposition of the estates of the deceased or incapable, were originally overseen by Connecticut's early county courts. In 1716 an act was passed to establish official, separate probate courts in each county. As the population grew and new towns and counties emerged, the legislature created additional probate courts to handle the increased workload. By the dawn of the 19th century, there were 28 courts throughout the state.

The state, and by extension the court system, saw rapid expansion in the 19th and 20th centuries. By 1850 the number of probate court districts had ballooned to 91, increasing again to 112 in 1900. By 1993 there were 133 districts, each with its own judge and staff. The vast majority of Connecticut's 169 towns had their own probate court.

However, declining revenues and increasing costs during the 1990s and 2000s meant that smaller courts were no longer financially viable, and some towns began to petition the state to allow their courts to merge. By 2009, the 133 districts had been slowly whittled down to 117.

The financial crisis of 2008 forced the legislature to take drastic action to keep the probate system afloat, and in 2009 they passed Public Act 09-114, which consolidated these 117 probate districts into just 54. These are, with a few changes in 2019, the districts we have today. See the map below:
 

Map of probate districts from the 2022-3 Probate Court Administrator biennial report.

Using this guide

Each town has a page on this guide that lists the town's probate district history, as well as links to probate books or files available online or through the State Archives.  If the town never had a probate district of its own, a suggestion for where to look is made. The guide also lists the parent town or towns, if a town has them. For probate records or files previous to when a town was incorporated, see the parent town.

If you are interested in viewing material listed as being in the state archives, or if you have any questions regarding probate records, please contact us!