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The role of administrators, executors, and guardians of children in probate matters can continue for many years, especially if the minor heirs are infants when their father died. |
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If one of the appointees mentioned above had to oversee an estate for an extended period, the court required him to present a financial accounting each year of the income and disbursements of the estate. That accounting has become known as an "annual return." |
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The content of the annual return shown in the example above, although brief, met the court's requirements. In other places, an annual return may appear more like entries made in an accounting register. |
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An annual return not only tells the story of how a guardian spent the money entrusted to him by the court, it offers a look at how the heirs lived. Annual returns can help identify the location and size of property included in the estate, give the name of the school where children were educated, and offer the names of slaves that were inherited with the estate. |
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Annual returns, as probate records, have remained in the custody of the court responsible for hearing probate matters in the county where the deceased lived. You can write to the clerk of the court to obtain copies of each annual return on file for a probate case. |
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Genealogists have abstracted and indexed the probate records, including annual returns, of many locations for publication. Copies of those publications and thousands of microfilmed probate records can be found at the LDS Family History Library, its local Family History Centers, and in the genealogy collections of private, local, state, and university libraries throughout the country. |
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