Will probated twice?

Question

I have run into a man in Ohio who has had his will probated twice. Once in 1845 in Ross County and once in 1865 in Williams County. I'm not particularly savvy when it comes to such things, can anyone think of a reason this would happen? The only unusual thing contained in the will is a provision that one of his sons be taken care of for the duration of his life by either his other sons or if they will not or cannot then by the courts. He appears to be disabled in some way. But I don't know if that has any bearing on the two probate dates and places. Thanks for any thoughts.

Comments

I created a profile and put in the links relevant to this discussion. It's not quite ready for prime time yet but thought the information might be helpful. [[Jones-67783|Moses Jones]] I hope the link works!

EDIT: guess not!

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Did he leave a widow? Maybe, if he did, the second probate happened at the time of her death. From what I understand, the wives back then usually got life rights(as long as she didn’t remarry), not an actual inheritance. Upon the widow’s death, his estate was reopened, which generated more paperwork. Maybe that meant it went through a second probate? Probate is something that I haven’t had much experience with.

Answer 1

Was the will probated twice or did the estate just take that long to settle? I have an ancestor who died about that year in Indiana whose estate kept getting petitioned by heirs. There were ten heirs, and it took about seven years to settle. (This was not a wealthy man by any stretch of the imagination.)

Comments

I'm not sure, but you may be right. I am going to have to go back through and read it again. I am pretty confused!

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Putting aside the probate dates question, would a will need to be filed in every county that the deceased owned property?