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State Archives of Florida Online Catalog

The Online Catalog allows searching and browsing of information about the Florida State Archives’ holdings of over 48,000 cubic feet of state and local government records and historical manuscripts. The catalog provides descriptions of over 3,400 collections and lists the contents of containers and folders in many of those collections. For assistance with accessing and using State Archives collections, call our Reference Staff at 850.245.6719 or email us at archives@dos.myflorida.com.

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	Record Group Number:	800000
	Series/Collection Number:	.L 283
	Creator:	Florida. Circuit Court (20th Circuit : Lee County)
	Title, Dates:	Probate records, 1889-1931.
	Amount:	4.00 microfilm reel 35 mm.
	Medium Included:
	Organization/Arrangement:	By record type, then chronological.
	Restrictions:
	Terms Governing Use:
	Biographical/Historical:	Lee County was created by an act of the State Legislature on May 13, 1887 (Ch. 3769, Laws). It was formed from the northern part of Monroe County. In 1923, Hendry County was formed from the northeast section of Lee (Ch. 9360, Laws), and Collier County was formed from the southern portion of the county (Ch. 9362, Laws). The Clerk of the Circuit Court in each county serves as the official custodian of deed, marriage, and probate records.
	Summary:	This series consists of a microfilm copy of the probate records of Lee County, Florida, from 1889 to 1931. The series includes records of wills (1889-1925), letters testamentary (1913-1928), foreign administration records (1925-1931), and guardianship records (1906-1927). A will is a legal instrument by which a person declares how they wish their property or estate to be disposed of after their death. Wills usually contain direct statements of relationships between the deceased and his family and denote ownership of specific property and goods. The will books contain indexes. Letters testamentary are the formal instruments of authority and appointment given to a person by the probate court, giving him the powers of executor of a decedent's will. The executor carries out the directions and requests of the will and disposes of the decedent's property. The two volumes of letters testamentary also contain executor applications, orders, oaths, and bonds. The volumes contain indexes. The foreign administration records concern people who owned property in Florida but lived outside of the state. These records document the admission of the out-of-state will to the Lee County probate court and the appointment by the court of an administrator or executor for the estate. Copies of the decedents' wills and of the records of the out-of-state court are also included. The volume contains an index. The need for a guardian usually occurs when a decedent is survived by minor children who by law are not considered capable of managing their own life. Thus the court appoints a guardian. The guardianship records include guardianship petitions, letters of guardianship, orders appointing guardians, guardianship oaths and bonds, and any annual returns or related court orders. The volumes contain indexes.
	Finding Aids:	Microfilm listing available.
	Additional Physical Form:
	Reproduction Note:	Microfilm.
	Location of Originals/Duplicates:	Circuit Court, Twentieth Judicial Circuit, Lee County. Office of the Clerk. Fort Myers, Florida.
	Associated Materials:
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	Electronic Records Access:
	Subject Access Fields:	Probate records Florida --Lee County Guardian and ward Florida --Lee County Guardianship Probate records. aat Wills. aat Bonds (Legal records) aat Lee County (Fla.)
	Added Entries