I sent to Madison County Probate a request for a copy of Will/estate settlement on my ancestor. They turned my letter over to someone who said she was an independant abstractor and she said that she charges $25 an hour + $1.00 a page and estimates that it will cost me $35.00. Alot of us would like to make $25 an hour. How come someone is allowed to charge that much ? Why is she estimating instead of telling me exactly how many pages there are ? She said that the papers were not located at the courthouse, I guess meaning they are located at the Madison County Records Center at the Huntsville Library. She didn't do her homework again. I had called there first and was told that the records were missing from my ancestor's file and I would have to send to the courthouse so they could copy his estate records out of the old books. I sent them his case #. Have any of you had problems like this when sending for probate records at the Madison County Courthouse ? Jane Vining

Don't know how it works in Ala. or Madison County in particular, but you may want to initially contact the State Archives. NOT to request the record from them, but rather, ask them if Ala. has an Open Records Act (many states do). Discuss your situation with an archivist at the State Archives. Or - you may even be able to find the information you need by going through a good search engine. Open Records Acts generally stipulate that government officials must provide reasonable access (including in response to written inquiries) to official government records in their custody. That would include things like court records, etc. Sometimes simply mentioning "under the ___(fill in state here )____ Open Records Act I would like to request the will of Jim Doe, packet # 1234 dated March 15, 1853" or whatever. Some Open Records Acts even prohibit "charging unreasonable fees" (but often leave that undefined). In Kansas, there was a big stink raised by the newspapers over access to records, and wildly varying prices from county to county, for requests for the exact same kind of record. Madison County may be perfectly in their rights and legal to do what they have done....but, they may also be giving you the runaround. I know in some instances, if you state "Open Records Act" in your letter, you may receive better response. But not always, because there may not be such a law in that particular state - or, that law may expressly make provision for them to do referrals to outside sources. Ask the State Archives. They will know the law that is applicable. Good luck, and let us know what you find out! Linda B. At 10:48 PM 03/05/2002 , jv1@linkline.com wrote: >I sent to Madison County Probate a request for a copy of Will/estate >settlement on my ancestor. They turned my letter over to someone who said >she was an independant abstractor and she said that she charges $25 an >hour + $1.00 a page and estimates that it will cost me $35.00. Alot of us >would like to make $25 an hour. How come someone is allowed to charge that >much ? Why is she estimating instead of telling me exactly how many pages >there are ? She said that the papers were not located at the courthouse, I >guess meaning they are located at the Madison County Records Center at the >Huntsville Library. She didn't do her homework again. I had called there >first and was told that the records were missing from my ancestor's file >and I would have to send to the courthouse so they could copy his estate >records out of the old books. I sent them his case #. >Have any of you had problems like this when sending for probate records at >the Madison County Courthouse ? >Jane Vining > > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, >go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >