Crawford County Probate Records Overview
Probate matters in Crawford County are handled in the Probate Division of the Crawford Circuit Court. There is no separate county probate court listed for Crawford County in the Indiana court directory, and the research did not identify a separate superior, county, or probate-only court for these files. That distinction matters for search terms: the page name uses probate, but the official local court is the Crawford Circuit Court.
Common Crawford County probate records include wills admitted to probate, petitions to open estates, letters testamentary, letters of administration, inventories, accountings, creditor notices, claims, receipts, distributions, final reports, guardianship petitions, bonds, annual reports, trust petitions, and court orders. These are court records, but some documents can be restricted or redacted when they include protected financial, medical, or incapacity information.
The probate path is local even when statewide law controls the issue. Indiana law governs many estate, guardianship, adoption, juvenile, and family topics, but a Crawford probate filing still moves through Crawford Circuit Court unless a different court has jurisdiction. For an estate opened in Crawford County, use the Crawford case number, decedent or protected-person name, filing date, and party names when requesting documents from the clerk.
The state source for family, juvenile, adoption, guardianship, and marriage-law context is Indiana Code Title 31.
That code source helps frame why guardianship and child-related probate-adjacent files may not be open in the same way as ordinary estate records.
Crawford County Probate Terms
Probate records use terms that are short but technical. These definitions help separate the person who died, the person who manages the estate, and the kind of case filed in Crawford Circuit Court.
- Testator
- A person who made a will.
- Executor
- A person named in a will to carry out the will and help administer the estate.
- Intestate
- Dying without a valid will, so Indiana law controls who may inherit.
- Guardianship
- A court case asking for authority to manage care, property, or both for a minor or protected adult.
- Conservatorship
- A protective financial management concept often discussed with guardianship, though Indiana probate filings commonly use guardianship terms.
Search Crawford County Probate Records
Use MyCase for the online Crawford County probate records search. MyCase can search by person, business, case number, citation, cross-reference number, attorney, court, county, case category, and filing date range. For probate, the key filter is the Probate category plus Crawford County or Crawford Circuit Court. Case categories in the research include ES estate supervised, EU estate unsupervised, EM estate miscellaneous, GU guardianship, GM guardianship miscellaneous, and TR trust.
Probate searches can be harder than ordinary civil searches because names may appear in several roles. A decedent may be listed by estate name, a personal representative may be listed as a party, and a guardianship may involve a protected person plus a guardian. When a search by one name fails, try the other party names and use the file-date range if the approximate opening year is known.
- Open MyCase and choose Person/Business or Case/Citation/Cross Reference, depending on the information available.
- Search by decedent, estate name, guardian, protected person, trust name, party name, or case number.
- Filter to Crawford County or Crawford Circuit Court when that option is available.
- Select the Probate category to reduce unrelated civil, criminal, family, or citation results.
- Open the case detail and review the chronological case summary, parties, events, orders, hearings, and public documents if any are posted.
- Contact the clerk when a document is not online, when a certified copy is needed, or when older records do not appear in the portal.
Note: MyCase is a public lookup tool, but Indiana says official court records must be obtained from the court that maintains them.
Crawford County Probate Search Fields
Probate searches work best when the name and court filters are precise. Estate names can vary, and guardianship records may use the protected person's name, the guardian's name, or the case number. If the search has too many matches, add a file-date range or use the case number from a notice, creditor publication, attorney letter, or prior clerk receipt.
| Field | Type | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| MyCase Mode | Tab | Yes | Use Person/Business or Case search. |
| Last Name or Business | Text | Conditional | Search decedent, estate name, guardian, protected person, trust, or party. |
| Case Number | Text | Alternative | Best if known from notice or clerk correspondence. |
| Court or County | Selector | Optional | Select Crawford County or Crawford Circuit Court. |
| Category | Checkbox | Optional | Select Probate to reduce unrelated results. |
| File Date Range | Date | Optional | Useful for recent estates or older searches with broad names. |
Crawford County Probate Division Contact
The probate contact point is the Crawford Circuit Court and the Clerk of the Circuit Court at the Judicial Plaza address in English. The judge is Hon. Justin Mills. The clerk is Lisa Stephenson-Holzbog. Court staff can help with records access and filing mechanics, but they cannot decide whether an estate should be opened, whether a small-estate process is enough, or whether a person qualifies to serve as representative or guardian.
Probate Division of the Crawford Circuit Court
Judge: Hon. Justin Mills
P.O. Box 216
715 Judicial Plaza Drive
English, IN 47118
(812) 338-3113
Fax: (812) 338-2341
Crawford County Clerk of the Circuit Court
Clerk: Lisa Stephenson-Holzbog
P.O. Box 375
715 Judicial Plaza Drive
English, IN 47118
(812) 338-2565
Fax: (812) 338-2507
Crawford County Probate Fees
The research did not find a Crawford-specific probate filing and certified-copy fee PDF. Do not assume a certified copy price from another Indiana county. For a filing, certified letters, certified orders, or a probate copy packet, call the Crawford County Clerk before mailing a check or money order. The clerk can confirm the current amount, accepted payment type, and whether the request should go through the county document portal.
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Estate, guardianship, or trust filing | Confirm with the clerk |
| Letters testamentary or letters of administration | Confirm with the clerk |
| Certified copy of probate order or letters | Fee not found in Crawford research |
| Plain copies from a public probate file | Confirm with the clerk |
The federal bankruptcy court source in the manifest is separate from Crawford probate, but it matters when debts, estates, or trusts intersect with federal bankruptcy. The official source is the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Bankruptcy records are not Crawford County probate records, so estate-file searches should stay with MyCase and the Crawford clerk unless a federal bankruptcy case is involved.
What Crawford County Probate Records Show
A Crawford County probate case may show the petition or application to open an estate, will admission, representative appointment, bond, notices, claims, inventory, accounting, orders, receipts, distributions, and final report. A guardianship case may include petition allegations, medical or incapacity material, guardian appointment, accountings, annual reports, bonds, and orders. A trust case may show petitions and orders tied to trust administration.
MyCase may show a case summary and non-confidential orders for estate and trust case types, but it may not show all documents online. Indiana's public-document guidance says non-confidential probate documents can still be obtained in person through the clerk when they are not available online. For a related family status record, such as a marriage or divorce file, use Crawford County marriage and divorce records channels instead of probate.
Letters testamentary or letters of administration are often the key documents for banks, title companies, and other institutions because they show who has authority to act for an estate. Guardianship orders can serve a similar role for a guardian, but those files may include sensitive medical or financial material. Ask for the specific order, letter, or certified copy needed rather than requesting an entire probate packet by default.
Restricted Crawford County Probate Records
Probate is public in many estate matters, but not every file is open from end to end. Guardianship files often include medical, financial, and incapacity details. Trust and estate files may include account numbers or financial data that must be redacted. Adoption is not public probate access. Juvenile, mental-health, sealed, and confidential filings are controlled by Indiana court access rules and court orders.
Will safekeeping or will-deposit procedures were not found on official Crawford County pages during the research. Do not assume the clerk accepts wills for safekeeping without calling first. If the person has died and an estate needs to be opened, ask the clerk or legal counsel which filing path applies before mailing original papers, because probate filings can require originals, notice steps, and fees that are not shown in MyCase.
For federal cases that are outside Crawford probate, the New Albany bankruptcy location serves Crawford County in the Southern District of Indiana bankruptcy system.
The New Albany federal location is a useful distinction because probate files stay local, while bankruptcy case files are federal records.