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Mississippi County
Lafayette County, Mississippi
Oxford - William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha and Ole Miss - from William Faulkner's Oxford (Faulkner lived most of his life at Rowan Oak in Oxford, and the city and Lafayette County are the real-world model for Yoknapatawpha County - the fictional Mississippi county that is the setting of The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Absalom Absalom!, and a dozen other novels that constitute one of the most significant bodies of work in American literary history - Oxford's Square, the courthouse, and the surrounding landscape are living Faulkner geography) to the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss - whose Grove tailgating tradition, Rebels athletics, and academic programs make Oxford one of the most culturally vibrant small cities in the South).
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Office: Lafayette County Emergency Management/Homeland Security – 72 F.D. “Buddy” East Parkway, Suite 102, Oxford, MS 38655 | (662) 371-3263; free CodeRED weather/emergency notification service.
Sheriff: Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department – 711 Jackson Ave East, Oxford, MS 38655 | (662) 234-6421 | Fax: (662) 232-8062. E-911 handles all emergency dispatch for Lafayette County, the City of Oxford, and the University of Mississippi.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: MS-6 and US-278 serve Oxford, the county seat, home of the University of Mississippi (“Ole Miss”); Sardis Lake and the South Campus Rail Trail are popular local destinations.
Notes: Lafayette County is named for the Marquis de Lafayette, the French general who aided the American Revolution.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Lafayette County Courthouse – 1 Courthouse Square, Oxford, MS 38655 | (662) 236-3402; built 1872 (Greek Revival/Italianate, architect S. Boling) to replace an earlier courthouse burned by Union troops during the Civil War; NRHP-listed 1977.
Notes: Lafayette County is genuinely, famously the literary home of Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner, who fictionalized Oxford and the surrounding county as “Jefferson” and “Yoknapatawpha County” throughout his major works. Faulkner’s home, Rowan Oak – a Greek Revival house built in 1844 for Irish immigrant farmer Robert B. Sheegog, purchased by Faulkner in 1930 and his residence until his death in 1962 – is a National Historic Landmark, now owned and operated by the University of Mississippi and open to the public (grounds are pet-friendly). Faulkner is buried in St. Peter’s Cemetery near the town square. Oxford has since drawn many other acclaimed writers, including John Grisham, Willie Morris, Barry Hannah, and Larry Brown, earning a reputation as “the literary center of the South.”
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Lafayette County Veterans Affairs Officer – SSgt. Chester Starks, CVSO | 1403 Van Buren Ave, Suite 103, Oxford, MS 38655 | (662) 236-2535 | Fax: (662) 236-7997.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Memphis, TN VA medical center; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current Oxford public library address/phone via lafayettems.com.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Rowan Oak, the University of Mississippi campus, Sardis Lake, Holly Springs National Forest (partial), and the South Campus Rail Trail are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine literary legacy of William Faulkner and Rowan Oak’s National Historic Landmark status are among the most significant local cultural facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Lafayette County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via lafayettems.com.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Lafayette County Animal Shelter (LCAS) – Oxford, MS; operated by the Lafayette County Humane Society under contract to provide shelter services for lost and homeless pets, including adoption, foster, and volunteer programs.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Lafayette County – confirm current contact via lafayettems.com.
NOTES: Lafayette County is the first county in the sixth batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine literary legacy of William Faulkner and Rowan Oak’s National Historic Landmark status are among the most significant local cultural 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 Lafayette County
Lafayette County is William Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha – Oxford and its surrounding Lafayette County landscape is the real geography behind the fictional county where Faulkner set some of the greatest American novels ever written, and Ole Miss’s Grove is one of college football’s most celebrated traditions.
Oxford (the county seat, population ~28,000) is one of the South’s most culturally rich small cities – Rowan Oak, Square Books, the vibrant restaurant scene, and Ole Miss give it a literary and social energy that draws visitors from across the country.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Lafayette County Tax Assessor at 300 N. Lamar Blvd., Suite 103, Oxford, MS 38655, phone 662-234-5562. MS residential assessed at 10% of true value.
Courts & Legal
Lafayette County Chancery Court at 300 N. Lamar Blvd., Oxford, MS 38655, phone 662-234-7640, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
300 N. Lamar Blvd., Oxford, MS 38655
(662) 234-4351
CIRCUIT CLERK
300 N. Lamar Blvd., Oxford, MS 38655
(662) 234-7461
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Lafayette County Chancery Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The University of Mississippi, located in Oxford, may hold materials of genealogical or historical interest.
Local societies
No dedicated Lafayette 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
Lafayette County Chancery Court 300 N. Lamar Blvd. (mail: P.O. Box 1240), Oxford, MS 38655 (662) 234-2131
Lafayette County was founded February 9, 1836, named for the Marquis de Lafayette, in north-central Mississippi, seated in Oxford – home to the University of Mississippi. The 1871-72 Lafayette County Courthouse, Greek Revival/Italianate in style, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, part of the Oxford Courthouse Square Historic District.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Mississippi has not adopted the Uniform Probate Code and instead follows its own statutory framework under Miss. Code Ann. Title 91, Chapter 7. Mississippi’s small-estate threshold, at $75,000, is one of the lowest in the country, so most estates end up needing at least some court involvement.
Small Estate Affidavit (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-322) – personal property only, up to $75,000 (excluding liens and encumbrances). A 30-day waiting period after death applies. The affidavit is presented directly to whoever holds the property (a bank, for instance); that party is not required to investigate the truth of the affidavit and is protected from liability once it complies.
Muniment of Title (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-5-35) – a limited proceeding to transfer real property named in a will, without full administration, when the estate’s non-real-estate assets are $75,000 or less and all debts (including taxes) have been paid. A petition is still filed with the Chancery Court to declare the will valid; the will and court order are then recorded in the land records.
Formal Administration – required for most estates with real property beyond the muniment-of-title threshold or significant liquid assets. The Chancery Judge reviews the petition, the will (if any), and supporting documents before issuing Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration appointing the personal representative.
Step 2: filing for probate
File a petition with the Chancery Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
The personal representative inventories assets and notifies creditors; Mississippi’s creditor claim period runs 90 days (Miss. Code Ann. § 91-7-145).
Claims and disputes are adjudicated by the Chancery Court if contested.
Once debts are settled and the creditor period closes, the estate can be distributed and closed.
What it costs
Costs are the Chancery Clerk’s per-county filing fee (built on the statewide base under Miss. Code § 25-7-9), plus recording fees and publication costs.
Mississippi has no state estate tax or inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could separately apply, and only to very large estates.
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
705 Jackson Ave. W., Oxford, MS 38655
(662) 236-5454
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
300 N. Lamar Blvd., Oxford, MS 38655
(662) 234-7461
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Lafayette County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via lafayettems.com.
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Editorial Trust
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Oxford
Population: 55,000
Area: 674 sq mi
Established: 1836
Tier: 3
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Lafayette County residents.
