Copied from Arkansas County Record Description Website Court Records " Generally, probate court records in Arkansas are generated by the chancery court and maintained by the county clerk. Wills and records created from probate proceedings for both testate and intestate estates are among the most valuable county records. Bound volumes of probate records include the recorded will, appointments of administrators, court orders for the inventory of an estate, the inventory, estate sale records, guardianship appointments and accounts, administrator/executor accounts, list of heirs, and final accounts. Probate records and/or wills for the period prior to 1920 for most of the counties in Arkansas are available on microfilm through the FHL and the Arkansas History Commission. Volumes of published wills or probate records are available for some Arkansas counties. Most county clerks also maintain bundles of loose probate records. These packets contain documents, not always in the record books themselves, filed in probate court in connection with estate settlements, guardianships, and insanity cases. Some are arranged in chronological order. Others are organized in semi-alphabetical order regardless of date. Original Pulaski County loose probate packets are at the Arkansas History Commission. In a few cases, other county probate packets have been microfilmed and are available there as well. Courts with countywide jurisdiction are circuit, chancery, county, and justice of peace. Jurisdiction varies from county to county, but generally circuit courts hear criminal, naturalization, and major civil cases. Chancery courts have jurisdiction over equity, divorce, probate, and adoption cases. County courts have jurisdiction over juvenile, tax, and claim cases, as well as county financial matters. Justice of peace courts hear preliminary criminal and minor contract cases. These records are generally available from the time of the county's organization except in those counties where records were destroyed by fire or other causes. Courts of common pleas existed during the territorial period, but no records remain. The county clerk's office maintains records for all courts functioning in the county. Because jurisdiction varies, check each county for its procedures. The state supreme court has appellate jurisdiction from lower courts, and its records can be valuable for those counties with record losses. " (Source: Ancestry's Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources )