Consistory Court, Bonds Testamentary

Contains testamentary bonds. A bond is a written guarantee that a person will faithfully perform the tasks assigned to him or her by a probate court. These documents were entered into by executors to agree to faithfully to carry out their responsibilities assigned to them in a will (the written document by which a person declares his or her intent for the disposition of property and rights after his or her death). They include the names of the executors and occupations, relationship to the deceased and the sum of the bond.

Executors are individuals who were appointed by the person making a will (the testator) to act on the deceased's behalf after their death and to make arrangements to give affect to the terms of the will. They were usually the deceased's spouse, child or children or another trusted relative or close friend.

The executors' duties are:

To assemble the details of the estate

To ascertain the whereabouts of the beneficiaries of the will

To make the application for the process of proving the will

To distribute the proceeds of the estate

Often to ensure payments of debts and funeral expenses

To finalise the estate proceedings

The Bonds are in Latin.

These records are arranged in chronological order.

<p>See the Centre for Kentish Studies for the rest of this series. See also Bonds in the Dean and Chapter archive collection held at Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library (referenced DCc).</p>

These records are only available on microfilm.