The will that is admitted to probate by the judge of the appropriate court is the one that matters–at least to the beneficiaries and heirs. But there may have been other wills. Sometimes a will is denied probate even if it is brought to the court. That unprobated will may still contain genealogical clues, even if there was denied admission to probate. When going through an individual’s effects, one may find copies of wills that were never admitted to probate because they were revoked by the testator and replaced with a new one or (more rarely) because they were not found in time to be admitted to probate.
Those invalid, revoked, or “lost” wills can contain just as many genealogical clues as the one admitted to probate.
And sometimes they explain the drama as well <smirk>.
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