Series 4700

Davis County (Utah). Probate Court

Divorce case files, 1875-1886.

View history of records' creator.

Schedule Description

In 1852, the Utah Territorial Legislature provided that the Probate Court should have jurisdiction not only in estate and guardianship matters, but original jurisdiction in civil, criminal, and chancery cases. In 1874, the federal Poland Act revoked the jurisdiction of the Probate Court over all but divorce and probate cases. This series includes those cases handled by the Probate Court which are divorce cases. In 1887, the federal Edmunds-Tucker act revoked Probate Court jurisdiction in divorce cases. Generally, case files include a number of discrete documents. These documents may include an initiating petition, summons and subpoenas issued to the parties in the case and to witnesses, bonds, exhibits, statements of fees, and other documents created and filed with the Court during the process of the trial action. Civil cases may include affidavits of publication of summons in those cases where the defendant was not served personally, as well as decrees detailing the disposition of
the case.

Scope and Content

In 1852, the Utah Territorial Legislature provided that the Probate Court should have jurisdiction not only in estate and guardianship matters, but original jurisdiction in civil, criminal, and chancery cases. In 1874, the federal Poland Act revoked the jurisdiction of the Probate Court over all but divorce and probate cases. This series includes those cases handled by the Probate Court which are divorce cases. In 1887, the federal Edmunds-Tucker act revoked Probate Court jurisdiction in divorce cases.
Generally, case files include a number of discrete documents. These documents may include an initiating petition, summons and subpoenas issued to the parties in the case and to witnesses, bonds, exhibits, statements of fees, and other documents created and filed with the Court during the process of the trial action. Civil cases may include affidavits of publication of summons in those cases where the defendant was not served personally, as well as decrees detailing the disposition of the case.
Prior to 1878, Utah Territory had one of the most liberal divorce laws in the United States and did not require residency in order to obtain a divorce within the territory. A simple statement that the married couple could not live in peace and union together was sufficient grounds for the granting of a divorce decree. As such, once the establishment of the railroad system provided regular access to the territory in 1869, the Probate Court handled many divorces for persons who could not meet the stricter laws regarding the granting of divorces in their home states. In 1878, the territorial Legislature changed the law to require residency, thereby decreasing significantly the number of divorces handled by the Probate Court.

Notes

This series is arranged primarily numerically by case number, with case numbers assigned roughly in chronological order based on the filing date of the complaint. The assignment of case numbers makes it appears as if the court did not begin assigning case numbers until 1877 when the court case load increased substantially. At that point, the court started assigning case numbers at #25, perhaps to allow for earlier cases handled by the court to be assigned earlier case numbers as those cases reappeared in the court's holdings. The case numbers are consistent until number 193, at which point the numbers jump to 250, but this may not reflect a gap in the cases as no numbers between 193 and 250 appear in the dockets either. There are some cases which were not assigned case numbers and these can be found at the end of the series: these are arranged in chronological order by filing date.

There are no case files for the numbers 1-24 and 194-249. These numbers may never have been assigned to actual case files. A few of the case files within the cases numbered 25-193 have not survived.

This series was processed by Arlene Schmuland in June 2001. Upon processing, this series was discovered to contain one case file dating 1897 and actually originating from the 2nd District Court for Davis County. As the Davis County District Court case files were not in the custody of the Archives this file was returned to the Clerk of the District Court for Davis County in June 2001.

This series is arranged primarily numerically by case number, with case numbers assigned roughly in chronological order based on the filing date of the complaint. The assignment of case numbers makes it appears as if the court did not begin assigning case numbers until 1877 when the court case load increased substantially. At that point, the court started assigning case numbers at #25, perhaps to allow for earlier cases handled by the court to be assigned earlier case numbers as those cases reappeared in the court's holdings. The case numbers are consistent until number 193, at which point the numbers jump to 250, but this may not reflect a gap in the cases as no numbers between 193 and 250 appear in the dockets either. There are some cases which were not assigned case numbers and these can be found at the end of the series: these are arranged in chronological order by filing date.