Daily AncestorCaveat
A caveat in probate records is a formal objection filed with the court asking it not to prove a will or grant administration until the objector has been heard.
Caveat is Latin for "let him beware." Anyone with an interest in an estate could enter a caveat with the court, and the court then had to give that person a chance to be heard before admitting the will or granting letters. It often started a will contest.
Georgia records describe caveats as protests to a will and enter them in the court minutes. In other contexts a caveat could also stop the grant of a land patent until a rival claim was heard.
As seen in a recordCourt of ordinary minutes, Georgia, 1850s
Nancy Lusk enters a caveat against the probate of the paper purporting to be the will of Abner Lusk, dec'd
Sources
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Daily Ancestor. "Caveat." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/legal-land/caveat. Last checked 2026-10-12.