Beaver County Probate Records Office
The Beaver County Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court receives wills for probate, issues letters of administration when a person dies without a will, collects inheritance tax, records adoptions in Beaver County, receives and indexes Orphans' Court petitions, issues marriage licenses, duplicates old marriage licenses, and houses birth and death records from 1893 through 1906. Current officeholder Tracey Antoline Patton is listed in the county directory and court structure research.
New probates require appointments. The probate page also lists a probate contact at 724-770-4549 or chill@beavercountypa.gov. For ordinary estate work, start with the Register office rather than the Prothonotary or Clerk of Courts. The Prothonotary is the civil filing office, and the Clerk of Courts handles criminal cases. Probate and Orphans' Court matters belong with the Register office unless a separate court or public-access route is identified for a different record.
The Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court page is the main official source for Beaver County probate records.
The Register page is the local hub because it links probate, old wills, old Orphans' Court records, marriage records, and Infocon access from the same office.
Beaver County Probate Contact
Use the Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court for estate filings, will probate, letters of administration, old will requests, Orphans' Court petitions, and the office's linked record systems. The courthouse address is also the mailing point for old wills and old Orphans' Court record requests. When an estate matter is new, the appointment rule is important because walk-in filing may not be the correct first step.
Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court
Tracey Antoline Patton
Beaver County Courthouse
810 Third Street
Beaver, PA 15009
724-770-4550
Probate contact: 724-770-4549
RegisterOfWills@beavercountypa.gov
Beaver County Probate Terms
Probate records use short legal terms that can hide practical steps. Beaver County's probate overview defines probate around assets that remain in a decedent's own name, including bank accounts, real estate, stocks, and similar property. It also separates estates with a will from estates without a will. The definitions below use that Beaver County framework and include required Orphans' Court terms.
- Probate
- The procedure used when a decedent leaves assets in the decedent's own name.
- Testator
- The person who made a will. Beaver County's page uses the related term testacy for a decedent who left a will.
- Executor or executrix
- The person responsible for proper forms and filing the will with the Register of Wills after death.
- Intestate
- Dying without a will. The Register may issue Letters of Administration so an estate can be handled.
- Guardianship
- An Orphans' Court matter involving authority over a person or property when court supervision is needed.
- Conservatorship
- A protective term used in some jurisdictions; in Beaver County research, the closer local record category is guardianship.
The Beaver County probate overview is the successful manifest source for these probate concepts.
The county probate overview is especially useful because it explains testacy, intestacy, and letters of administration in local office terms.
Search Beaver County Probate Records
Beaver County probate record access has several channels. Current probate and Orphans' Court questions start with the Register office. Online access may be available through Infocon, which is officially linked by the county for Register and Orphans' Court records. Older wills and old Orphans' Court records have a separate mail request process. Adoption is recorded by the office, but it should be treated as restricted rather than as an ordinary public search record.
- Identify whether the record is a current estate, an old will, an old Orphans' Court record, adoption material, or another court record.
- For a new probate, contact the Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court because appointments are required.
- For online access, check the county-linked Infocon portal for Register and Orphans' Court records.
- For old wills or old Orphans' Court material, prepare the mailed request fields and research fee.
- For restricted material, expect proof of authority, party status, attorney involvement, or a court order before access is granted.
Note: A will is not recorded in Beaver County until after the person who made it has died.
Old Beaver County Wills
Old wills in Beaver County cover records from 1800 to present. A mailed request to the Register of Wills should include the requester's name, check for research fees, self-addressed stamped envelope, email, daytime phone, deceased person's name, and date of death or a 5-year date range. The research fee is charged per name, and the county caps the number of names per request.
Old Orphans' Court records are also requested through the Register office. The research file identifies old Orphans' Court records from 1804 through 1897 and names examples such as widow's appraisements, estate audits, sale of real estate, and similar miscellaneous estate material. These records can be useful when a modern probate docket is not the issue, but the estate history still matters.
The old wills and Orphans' Court request page is the successful manifest source for older Beaver County probate records.
The old-record request process is mail based and depends on names, death dates or date ranges, payment, and a return envelope.
Beaver County Probate Fees
The research identifies a Register of Wills / Orphans' Court fee schedule PDF, but the detailed probate filing amounts were not transcribed into the research file. The fee schedule below uses the researched amounts that were captured for old wills and related Register records, and it directs current probate filings to the official fee schedule rather than inventing amounts. For new probate filings, confirm the total with the Register office before the appointment.
| Item | Office | Fee or Method |
|---|---|---|
| Old wills research | Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court | $5 per name, maximum three names per request |
| Old wills copies after result notice | Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court | $1 per page |
| Old Orphans' Court record research | Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court | Use the same mailed old-record request process identified by the county |
| New probate appointment and filing | Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court | Confirm with the office and the official fee schedule PDF identified by the Register materials |
| Infocon access | County-linked Infocon portal | Portal access terms and any account charges should be checked through Infocon |
Beaver County Infocon Access
Beaver County links Infocon county access from the Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court materials. The research describes it as an officially linked access portal for Register and Orphans' Court records. Because the captured research did not include the full dynamic field list, use Infocon as an access channel rather than as proof that every estate or Orphans' Court file is available online.
The Infocon portal is the fourth successful manifest image assigned to Beaver County probate records.
Infocon can be the right first check for online Register and Orphans' Court access, while old records and restricted records may still require office handling.
| Record Need | Best Channel |
|---|---|
| New estate probate | Appointment with the Register of Wills / Clerk of Orphans' Court |
| Online Register or Orphans' Court access | Infocon, as linked by Beaver County |
| Old wills from 1800 to present | Mailed old wills request to the Register office |
| Old Orphans' Court records from 1804 through 1897 | Mailed old Orphans' Court request to the Register office |
| Adoption record access | Restricted handling through the court or authorized process |
Beaver County Probate Record Contents
A Beaver County probate file can involve the will, petition materials, letters, estate administration filings, inheritance tax handling, Orphans' Court petitions, and related index entries. In an intestate estate, the file may focus on Letters of Administration because there is no will to record. The county probate overview says the surviving spouse has the first option to serve as administrator, then children and the lineal line if the spouse is deceased. It also states that bond must be posted if the administrator lives out of state.
Old Orphans' Court material can look different from a modern estate file. Widow's appraisements, audits, real estate sale material, and miscellaneous historical entries may appear in older sets. If the research goal is genealogy, title history, or an old estate, the old wills and old Orphans' Court request process may be better than asking only for a current docket. Marriage proof can also matter in estate work, so some searches may cross into Beaver County marriage records.
Restricted Beaver County Probate Records
The Register office records adoptions in Beaver County, but adoption records are not ordinary open public search records. Guardianship records, minor-related materials, protected personal identifiers, and sensitive family filings may also have access limits. Pennsylvania public access rules and court policies protect Social Security numbers, financial account numbers, minor identifiers, sealed records, and other restricted data from public-facing copies.
When a Beaver County probate or Orphans' Court record is restricted, expect a more formal process. The requester may need party status, proof of appointment, attorney access, authorization from the subject, or a court order. Public copies may be redacted. A missing result in Infocon or an old-record search does not prove no file exists, especially if the matter is sealed, restricted, misspelled, indexed under a different name, or held in a record group that is not online.
Note: Use the Register office for probate access questions, but legal authority questions may require counsel or a court order.