IMAGES
Images of wills and testaments from 1513 to 1901 are available on this site. These images are full colour, authentic facsimiles of the original documents, which are held at the National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh. For reasons of preservation, these original documents have been withdrawn from public use.
Will & testament images are in .jpg (JPEG) format. The file size of each image is between 800-900 KB and so they may take some time to download depending on the type of Internet connection.
Viewing digital images of an original will, testament or inventory costs 5GBP per document, regardless of length (number of pages). See How to View an Image for more information. A description of each image incorporating search name, image type and reference number and the date and time that the image was generated, can be found at the top of each image. If you would prefer not to display these details, uncheck the "Image Description Appears In Image" box on the "My Details" page.
For documents before 1800 (with CC, Commissary Court references), the registers were digitised at one page per image. For most documents after 1800 (with SC, Sheriff Court, references), the registers were digitised at two pages per image. If the numbering of the pages seems to indicate missing pages this is because there are occasional blank pages in the registers. These pages have not been digitised, but they have not been discounted in the overall page count of any one document.
A testament testamentar is comprised of four parts: an introductory clause, an inventory of the deceased’s possessions, a confirmation clause and a copy of the will. (If a copy of the will is not included, there will be a reference to it having been recorded elsewhere, probably in the court’s Registers of Deeds). The testament testamentar is more useful to family historians than the testament dative because of the inclusion of the will. Executors are usually family members and other family names might appear as beneficiaries, although not necessarily the spouse or children. Since they are already catered for under the “widow’s part” and the “bairns’ part” of the moveable estate, the spouse or children might only be named in the will if they are to benefit from the “dead’s part” in addition to their lawful share of the estate.
A testament dative is comprised of three parts: an introductory clause, an inventory of the deceased’s possessions, and a confirmation clause. There is no will, but the court often named a close family member as executor. However, if the deceased died in debt, the court might appoint a creditor as executor instead. In the latter case, it is less likely that family names will be included.
An inventory will list the moveable property belonging to the deceased at the time of his or her death. It can include household furnishings, clothes, jewellery, books, papers, farm stock and crops, tools and machinery, money in cash, bank accounts and investments, as well as money owed to creditors and money due from debtors. Often the inventory consists only of a brief, overall valuation, but sometimes it is very detailed, with the value of every item listed. A “roup roll” might be included, itemising each lot sold in the auction and listing prices paid (sometimes with the names of purchasers).