What is the best place to find the will or probabte record of a man who died in Kansas in 1942?

Question

I am searching for the probate record of my g grandfather Alfred Spangler.  He was born in Malden, Illinois June 16, 1862 and died in Lost Springs, Kansas April 15, 1942.  I have looked in FamilySearch, Ancestry, Find My Past, MyHeritage, and a site of the Kansas State court system. It seems unlikely that he died intestate as he was a lawyer, although poor as a church mouse.  FamilySearch and Find My Past say affirmatively that they have no probate record for Alfred Spangler. I also searched for a will or probate record for his wife, again without success.

Comments

You night look in local newspapers for the appointment of an administrator, a notice of the sale of property, or a notice regarding claims on the estate.

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I looked in Ancestry. There are a number of records for him, including a sourced family tree. Unfortunately, no probate records. The 1942 death could be too recent for things to be on line. You might try the court directly for the county he lived/died in.

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Kathie's suggestion was really good. Find out which was the local newspaper in his community and scan through the papers that came out in the month after he died. If the paper still exists, you should be able to access their archives if you buy an online subscription. I got 6 months for $1 for the paper that covered the last 4 generations of my family. If you can't get an online subscription, then the librarian in the town where he lived could probably arrange for a researcher to scan the microfiche archive of relevant newspapers and send prints if a probate notice can be found. There would be an hourly rate for research plus a per page rate for prints.

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Please accept a group thank you--we had a power outage and I was offline. I feel a little silly not thinking of the newspapers and will get on that.  On reflection, Nancy probably got the explanation as the family's major assets--farm, house--were in his wife's name.

Answer 1

If he was as poor as you say, his estate might not have been one required to go through the probate process. Depending on location and time period, estates under a certain dollar amount avoid probate. You would have to research the laws of that time in Kansas. Also, if he was a savvy lawyer, he might have set up for his assets to roll into a trust fund. Those are just some thoughts off the top of my head.

Comments

Thank you.  He was Clerk of the local court for a time, so he would have know the relevant law.