København Skifteprotokoller (Landsretten 1730-1862)

If you have ancestors in København, you should always check the probates.  When you search the Family History Library Catalog there are many options to choose from.  For this post I have chosen to discuss the Landsretten (High Court) records.  There are 1,836 films and it can be tricky to find the probate you're looking for.

I am going to give step by step instructions for finding the probate of Anna Sophie Holm Borch.  She died 11 Dec. 1846 in the Trinitatis parish.

Step 1:
Assuming you know the death date, you want to start with the register.  These registers are duplicated on microfiche but I find the microfilm version easier to navigate since they are broken down in smaller increments.

We start with film 46,197.  It covers 1846-1853.  When we view the film we find it actually contains several registers.

FHL Film 46,197 film title

We will use the A section of the register.  Names will be either listed according to first or last name.  So if you will want to check both.  The entries are not alphabetized so you will need to read the entire section.

 FHL Film 46,197

About half way down this page we find the entry for Anne Sophie Borch.

FHL Film 46,197

Step 2:

We see some numbers associated with this entry.  5/873 and 5: 533.  What do they mean?  When we go to the films associated with 1846-1847 there are several options.  Films 47,616-47,867.  That's 52 films for the two years we need to look at.  There are numerous record types:

1. Forseglingsprotokol (Under the seal of the court)
2. Registreringsprotokol (Registration)
3. Behandlingsprotokol (Handling)
4. Gældsbog (Debt book)
5. Decisionsprotokol (Decisions)
6. Repartitionsprotokol (Distributions)
7. Kvitteringsbog (Acknowledgements)
8. Korrespondanceprotokol (Correspondance)
9. Erklæringsprotokol (Declarations)
10. Hovedbog (Ledger)
11. Dokumenter til ordinære Boer (Documents)

We start with the first type. When we look at the first film we see the film title includes classes 1-4.  When we go to film 47,617 we see the title:

FHL Film 47,617

We notice in the register that 5 is part of both references 5/873 and 5: 533.  This film looks promising.

On page 533 of this register we find:

 FHL Film 47,617

So 5:533 refers to the Klasse and 5/873 refers to the actual number of the probate.  I do not know if the other records are indexed.  I will have to play with them on my next trip to the Library.