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Affiliate disclosure: This page contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission if you use them, at no extra cost to you. Our editorial recommendations are independent of these relationships.
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Office: Franklin Region Council of Governments (FRCOG) Emergency Preparedness – coordinates regional emergency planning across the county’s 26 towns.
Sheriff: Franklin County Sheriff’s Office – 160 Elm Street, Greenfield, MA 01301 | (413) 774-4014; Sheriff Lori M. Streeter, appointed Interim Sheriff by Governor Maura Healey in January 2025 – the first female Sheriff in the county’s history; began her career in 1985 as a Correctional Officer, rising to Superintendent and Special Sheriff in 2014, overseeing a 320-bed facility with 250 employees; Westfield State College Criminal Justice degree; the office is nationally recognized for evidence-based, trauma-informed mental health and substance-use programming. Hours: Mon-Fri 9 AM-5 PM.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: MA-2 (the Mohawk Trail) and I-91 serve Greenfield, the county seat, in the Pioneer Valley of western Massachusetts.
Notes: Franklin County is a rural, hilly region of 26 towns, home to historic mill villages along the Connecticut and Deerfield Rivers.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Franklin County Registry of Deeds – confirm current contact via mass.gov.
Notes: Franklin County is genuinely home to the Bridge of Flowers in Shelburne Falls – a unique 400-foot, five-arch concrete span built in 1908 as a trolley bridge connecting Shelburne and Buckland over the Deerfield River. When the trolley line was abandoned in 1928, the Shelburne Falls Women’s Club transformed the disused bridge into a floral garden walkway, believed to be the only one of its kind in the world; it remains open to the public each April through October. The county is also home to Historic Deerfield, a preserved mile-long street of 18th-century houses in Old Deerfield, and the glacial potholes of the Deerfield River.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Franklin County Veterans Services – confirm current contact via mass.gov.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current Greenfield-area public library address/phone via mass.gov.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Bridge of Flowers, Historic Deerfield, Mount Sugarloaf, and the Mohawk Trail scenic byway are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine “only one of its kind in the world” status of the Bridge of Flowers is one of the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Franklin County Registry of Deeds – confirm current contact via mass.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Franklin County Regional Dog Shelter – Turners Falls, MA (Montague); serves 17 towns across western Massachusetts (Bernardston, Buckland, Colrain, Conway, Deerfield, Erving, Gill, Greenfield, Heath, Leyden, Montague, Northfield, Shelburne, Rowe, Warwick, Wendell, Whately); a mostly-volunteer regional operation taking in abandoned, stray, or abused dogs, providing medical treatment, behavioral training, and spay/neuter services; $175 adoption fee. Website: fcrdogkennel.org.
Pioneer Valley Humane Society – P.O. Box 786, Greenfield, MA; serves Greenfield and surrounding communities.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Franklin County Solid Waste Management District – hosts periodic Clean Sweep and Hazardous Waste Collection Day events; confirm current contact via franklincountywastedistrict.org.
NOTES: Franklin County is the sixth county in the first batch of the Massachusetts v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine “only one of its kind in the world” status of the Bridge of Flowers is one of the most distinctive local facts covered anywhere in this project. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Franklin County County
Franklin County is western Massachusetts’s Mohawk Trail and Pioneer Valley heritage county – Historic Deerfield’s extraordinary colonial preservation and the Mohawk Trail’s scenic corridor through the Connecticut River Valley define a county whose agricultural, artistic, and historical character make it one of New England’s most culturally rich rural communities.
Greenfield (the county seat, population ~18,000) is Franklin County’s governmental and commercial hub, a Connecticut River city whose downtown revitalization, farm-to-table food culture, and arts community anchor the county’s Pioneer Valley identity.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Franklin County uses individual town assessors; contact your town hall for assessment information. MA assessed at full fair cash value.
Courts & Legal
Franklin County Probate and Family Court at 425 Main Street, Greenfield, MA 01301, phone 413-774-7011, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF COURTS (Court Records)
425 Main St., Greenfield, MA 01301
(413) 772-6555
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Franklin Probate and Family Court (estate/probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Franklin County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Franklin Probate and Family Court 43 Hope Street (P.O. Box 590), Greenfield, MA 01302 (413) 774-7011 Franklin County is in northwestern Massachusetts, seated in Greenfield.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Massachusetts adopted a version of the Uniform Probate Code (the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code, or MUPC), codified largely at Mass. Gen. Laws c. 190B.
Voluntary Administration – the simplest path, for estates consisting entirely of personal property valued at $25,000 or less (not counting one motor vehicle). The decedent must have been a Massachusetts resident with no real estate solely in their name, at least 30 days must have passed since death, and no formal or informal probate petition can be pending. Filed using the Voluntary Administration Statement (Form MPC 170) – the filer becomes the Voluntary Personal Representative with no court hearing required. Filing fee is $115.
Informal Probate – the standard track for most straightforward estates, whether the estate has a will or not. A Magistrate reviews the petition administratively; an informal probate order can issue within about 7 days of filing, though the full case (including the required waiting and notice periods) typically closes in roughly 9 to 14 months.
Formal Probate – required when the will is contested, there’s uncertainty about who should serve as personal representative, or other disputes require a judge’s decision after a hearing.
Summary Administration – under c. 190B §3-1203, available when the estate’s value doesn’t exceed the family allowance, exempt property, funeral expenses, and expenses of the last illness – allows the personal representative to distribute the estate immediately without notifying creditors.
Step 2: filing for probate
Determine which track fits: gather the death certificate, will (if any), and a rough inventory of assets to see whether Voluntary Administration, Informal, or Formal Probate applies.
File the appropriate petition with the Probate and Family Court in the county where the decedent resided.
For informal proceedings, the Magistrate reviews and, if in order, appoints the personal representative and issues Letters without a hearing.
The personal representative gathers assets, provides required notices, pays valid debts and taxes, and distributes what remains to the heirs or beneficiaries – Massachusetts generally requires estates be probated within 3 years of death.
What it costs
Voluntary Administration filing fee: $115.
Informal and formal probate filing fees vary by estate type and are set by the Trial Court’s fee schedule.
Massachusetts does not require an attorney for probate, though many families use one for anything beyond a small, simple estate.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
160 Elm St., Greenfield, MA 01301
(413) 774-3366
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
baystatehealth.org (Greenfield — quality community hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Franklin County Board of Health – routed through individual town health departments; confirm current contact via mass.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Greenfield
Population: 70,000
Area: 702 sq mi
Established: 1811
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Franklin County County residents.
