Where probate leads come from
Every probate lead begins as a court case. When someone dies owning a house in their own name, a relative or the person named in the will usually asks a probate court, most often in the county where the person lived, to open an estate. The filings become a case file the public can usually search.
- The docket. Many clerks offer probate case search online by name or filing date; others need a visit. Pull the month's new estate cases and keep the ones that list real property.
- List vendors. Some companies collect filings for one county or many and sell them by the month or by the record. Ask whether a list comes from court filings or from a property record that marks an owner as deceased. Those are two different leads.
A filing usually gives you the case number, the representative's name and mailing address, and the estate's attorney. Florida's code shows the vocabulary: section 731.201(28) defines the personal representative as the fiduciary the court appoints to administer the estate, once called executor or administrator, and 731.201(24) calls the court's grant of authority "letters."
Pre-probate leads
A pre-probate lead is a property whose owner has died where no estate case has been filed or found yet. Vendors build these from sources such as death notices or a title record that marks an owner as deceased. They arrive before any filing, which is the appeal. The catch: nobody may have authority to sell yet, and there is no appointed person to write to. Confirm the death from a public notice, check the court again in a few weeks, and hold your letter until someone is in charge.
From court file to a contact, in five steps
- Confirm the house. Look the parcel up on the county assessor's site, or search its ZIP code in Find homeowners for the owner of record, property address and owner mailing address in separate fields, plus parcel number, year built and value where the county has them. The owner line may still show the decedent, a co-owner, a trust or the estate. A mailing address that differs from the house marks a likely absentee owner: a research signal, not proof.
- Upload the probate list unchanged. Upload the court export or vendor file as CSV or .xlsx, up to 25,000 rows. Locate lines up the columns, merges duplicate properties, keeps your case number and other columns on each row, and shows the maximum cost before anything runs. See bulk skip tracing.
- Trace the representative. Put the representative's name and the address from the filing on the row. If the file has no usable address, trace the decedent's property instead and look for the representative among the people returned. Results can include phones with line type, emails, address history, and possible relatives and associates, where the provider has them. If the provider reports someone as deceased, the result says so.
- Review relatives as leads. Locate flags the person whose name matches your row and lists everyone else with how they are linked. A son or sister there is someone to compare with the court file, never proof that they inherited or can sign. Read heirs vs owners and what a skip trace match proves.
- Export with DNC results. Pick the layout your CRM expects on CRM export. Each number carries its own Do Not Call result. If a number has no current answer, it is marked Not checked, and Locate never counts that as clear; Not listed does not mean consent. The check compares phone numbers with the dataset currently active on this site. It does not promise a live connection to government records, identify the owner of a number, or establish consent to contact someone. DNC checks are included at no extra charge.
Write first, call second, and give the family room
The court file gives you a mailing address, so a letter is the natural first contact, and it lets the representative reply when ready. Keep it short: who you are, which property, that you are sorry for the loss, and how to reach you if they decide to sell. Never suggest a tie to the court. If an attorney is listed, write to the attorney.
Calls come later, only to numbers you have checked. Timing matters more here than on any other list, because a filing can appear weeks after a death. Wait before the first letter, space follow-ups out, and stop the moment anyone asks. Log each stop request against the person and the property, so next month's pull does not bring the family back. DNC scrubbing covers keeping your own list.
How other tools handle probate
A list built from court filings names the person the court appointed. A list built from property records tells you an owner died, and you still have to find who is in charge. Each company's own page, read November 6, 2026:
| If you need | Fits | What its page showed on November 6, 2026 | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| A probate list with contacts, paid per lead | Tracerfy | Leads drawn from property records flagged as inherited, not from court filings; 10 cents per delivered lead, skip traced, no subscription; DNC and litigator flags included | [1] |
| A deceased-owner list inside a list-building platform | PropStream | A Pre-Probate list of properties where an owner on the title is marked deceased; Essentials $99 a month, skip tracing add-on at 12 cents a contact | [2], [3] |
| Probate properties by city, saved to a lead list in an app | DealMachine | City pages count properties whose latest title change shows a titleholder has died; owner and contact details stay hidden without a DealMachine account | [4] |
| To trace a court list you already pulled | Locate Next | No probate list or deceased-owner filter; $49 a month plus $0.17 per search with results, prepaid | [8] |
Tracerfy's price per lead is lower than Locate's price per search and includes the list, which Locate does not sell. PropStream also builds lists from many other filters. If you want the list made for you, those fit better. If you already have court filings and want them traced with your columns kept, Locate fits. See the comparison hub.
Where Locate Next fits a probate pipeline
It fits wholesalers, investors and listing agents who already work a monthly court pull. It does not read court files, research heirs or flag deceased owners in Find homeowners. The plan is $49 a month, and each search that returns results costs $0.17 from a prepaid balance. No results, no charge. A 300-row county pull costs at most $51 in searches. In Claude or ChatGPT, the same steps run through Locate's connection for AI apps, and nothing that costs money runs until you say yes. Get started at $49 a month.
Rules to read before you call or write
Federal. 47 CFR 64.1200(c) bars telephone solicitations to homes before 8 a.m. or after 9 p.m. local time, and to numbers on the national Do Not Call registry. The rule defines a solicitation as a call encouraging the purchase or rental of, or investment in, property, goods or services. An agent asking for the listing is offering a service. Whether an investor's offer to buy fits is a question for your lawyer. The FTC says a company must honor a person's request not to be called again.
State. Many states add their own do-not-call lists, hours and solicitation limits. Agents also follow their state's advertising rules for licensees, which often set how the brokerage is named, and some estate sales need court approval. If the inherited house is also in foreclosure, equity purchaser or foreclosure rescue laws can cover an investor who buys it; California's begin at Civil Code section 1695. Locate does not make any campaign compliant. The skip tracing laws guide has the federal text.
Common questions
How do I find probate leads?
Search each county's probate docket for new estate cases, keep the ones with a house, and note the appointed representative. Or buy filings from a list vendor.
How do I contact the executor of an estate?
Write to the mailing address in the court file. For a phone or email, skip trace the executor's name with that address, then check each number for Do Not Call status before you dial.
Is it legal to call probate leads?
Federal rules limit telephone solicitations by hour and bar them to numbers on the national Do Not Call registry, and states add their own. Whether your call is a solicitation depends on what you offer, so have a lawyer review your script.
What is a pre probate lead?
A property whose owner has died where no probate case has been filed or found yet. Nobody may have authority to sell, so treat it as early research.
How much do probate leads cost?
On November 6, 2026, Tracerfy listed probate leads at 10 cents per delivered lead, and PropStream's Essentials plan was $99 a month with skip tracing at 12 cents a contact. Locate Next sells no lists; tracing costs $0.17 per search with results on a $49 monthly plan.
Does a skip trace show who inherited the house?
No. It shows people linked to a name or an address. The will, state inheritance law and the probate court decide who inherited and who can sign a sale.
Sources
- Tracerfy, Probate Leads. Leads from property records flagged as inherited, not court filings; 10 cents per delivered lead; no subscription; DNC and litigator flags included. Read November 6, 2026.
- PropStream, features. The Pre-Probate list: properties where an owner on the title has been marked deceased. Read November 6, 2026.
- PropStream, pricing. Essentials at $99 a month billed monthly; skip tracing add-on at 12 cents a contact. Read November 6, 2026.
- DealMachine, Probate Properties in Cleveland, OH. Probate properties defined by the latest title change; owner and contact details need an account. Read November 6, 2026.
- 47 CFR 64.1200, FCC telemarketing rules. Paragraphs (c)(1) and (c)(2) on hours and the national registry; (f)(15) on telephone solicitation. Read November 6, 2026.
- FTC, Q&A for telemarketers and sellers about the Do Not Call provisions. Covered campaigns, and honoring a request not to be called. Read November 6, 2026.
- 2026 Florida Statutes 731.201. Personal representative, subsection (28); letters, subsection (24). Read November 6, 2026.
- Locate Next, pricing and surplus recovery. The $49 plan, the $0.17 charge, and the deceased marking. Read November 6, 2026.
This page is general information, not legal advice.