  Results from a concerted Hubble Space Telescope (HST) survey of nearby white
dwarfs for substellar objects is presented. A total of 7 DAZ white dwarfs with
distances of $<$ 50 pc had high contrast and high spatial resolution NICMOS
coronagraphic images taken to search for candidate substellar objects at
separations $\ltorder$10\arcsec away. Limits to unresolved companions are
derived through analysis of 2MASS photometry of the white dwarfs compared to
expected fluxes based on the WDs effective temperature, distance, and gravity.
  From our survey with HST we find several candidate companions, which have
been or will be followed up with second epoch observations. We find that for
four of the white dwarfs we are sensitive to planetary companions $\gtorder$10
M$_{Jup}$, and sensitive to companions $>$ 18 M$_{Jup}$ for all of the targets.
The lack of significant near infrared excesses for our targets limits any kind
of unresolved companions present to be substellar. In light of these results we
make several comments on the possibility of determining the origin of white
dwarfs with metals in their atmospheres.
