The New Zealand Probate records have been online for a while, but it is an on-going project between Archive NZ and FamilySearch so a press announcement has been made to tell us all that a million+ images are now online at the Family Search website.
It great to have the original wills freely available. A simple way to find those who left a will is to go to Archive NZ’s Archway search engine and do a search for a name. Once found check where the will is housed and then go to FamilySearch and see if that particular Court is on-line. If so, great you get to see the will free, if not you have 2 choices either pay $25NZ and buy a copy from Archives NZ who have a very efficient copy service or make a note and come back in a few weeks and see if it has gone on-line yet.
At the time of writing this post the wills that are available for viewing are from these courts.
- Blenheim Supreme Court
- Canterbury District Supreme Court
- Gisborne Supreme Court
- Greymouth District Supreme Court
- Hamilton District Supreme Court
- Hokitika District Supreme Court
- Masterton District Supreme Court
- Napier Supreme Court
- Nelson Supreme Court
- Palmerston North District Supreme Court
- Reefton District Supreme Court
- Taranaki District Supreme Court
- Timaru District Supreme Court
- Wanganui District Supreme Court
- Westland District Court
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1865481
http://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/
