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Mississippi County
Union County, Mississippi
New Albany - William Faulkner's actual birthplace and the Tanglefoot Trail - from William Faulkner's New Albany birthplace (William Cuthbert Faulkner was actually born in New Albany, Union County, on September 25, 1897 - though Oxford and Lafayette County are where he lived and set his fiction, New Albany is the Nobel laureate's actual birthplace, a distinction the city celebrates at the Faulkner Birthplace and the annual events honoring its most famous son) to the Tanglefoot Trail (the 43-mile rails-to-trails conversion connecting New Albany to Houston, Mississippi - one of Mississippi's premier recreational trails, running through the north Mississippi landscape on a converted railroad corridor).
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What do you need to do?
Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Union County Emergency Management Agency – 114 E. Bankhead St, PO Box 847, New Albany, MS 38652 | (662) 534-1903 | Email: [email protected]; Director Curt Clayton; CodeRED emergency notification system available for enrollment.
Sheriff: Union County Sheriff’s Office – 300 Carter Ave, New Albany, MS 38652 | (662) 534-1941 | Fax: (662) 534-1993 | Email: [email protected]; Sheriff Jimmy Edwards.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-78/I-22 and MS-15 serve New Albany, the county seat.
Notes: Union County was formed July 7, 1870 from Tippah and Pontotoc Counties, with a portion of Lee County added in 1874. Roughly 27,780-28,460 residents across 416-417 square miles. New Albany developed along a railroad crossing built in the 1880s, including a narrow-gauge line constructed by Col. William Clark Falkner (of neighboring Ripley) and partner Richard Thurmond, completed through New Albany in August 1887.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Union County Courthouse – New Albany, MS 38652.
Notes: New Albany is genuinely, directly the birthplace of Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner, born September 25, 1897 on Jefferson Street (his family moved to Oxford within the year, where he spent most of his life and set his fictional Yoknapatawpha County). The Union County Heritage Museum, occupying a city block near Faulkner’s birth site, has acquired the birthplace property and features the William Faulkner Literary Garden – a 20-plus-year-old space displaying plants referenced throughout Faulkner’s novels and short stories, paired with his own quotations about each. The museum complex also includes an outdoor folk-life exhibit area (“Frenchman’s Bend”) with a caboose, a period doctor’s office, and a blacksmith shop. New Albany hosts an annual Faulkner Fest literary celebration and the William Faulkner Literary Competition.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Union County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via unioncoms.com.
Federal: VA facilities accessible via a Tupelo, MS VA clinic; confirm current routing.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Confirm current New Albany public library address/phone via unioncoms.com.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Union County Heritage Museum, the William Faulkner Literary Garden, and the New Albany Dog Park (a multi-acre, members-only off-leash park with an agility course) are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine, direct connection to William Faulkner’s birth is one of the most significant literary-history facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Union County Tax Assessor – confirm current contact via unioncoms.com.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
New Albany Animal Shelter (City of New Albany) – confirm current address/phone via nafcanimalshelter.org; runs seasonal adoption promotions and manages the New Albany Dog Park.
Union County Humane Society (also known as Humane Society of Union County) – PO Box 116, New Albany, MS 38652 | Email: [email protected]; a foster-based, all-volunteer nonprofit operating for over 30 years, funded entirely by private donations.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Union County – confirm current contact via unioncoms.com.
NOTES: Union County is the third county in the eleventh and final batch of the Mississippi v2 A+ sourced redo. The genuine, direct connection to William Faulkner’s birth is one of the most significant literary-history 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 Union County
Union County is William Faulkner’s actual birthplace – though Oxford claimed his fictional imagination, New Albany is where the Nobel laureate entered the world in 1897, and the Tanglefoot Trail’s 43-mile corridor through north Mississippi gives the county an outdoor recreation identity to match its literary heritage.
New Albany (the county seat, population ~9,000) celebrates the Faulkner birthplace and serves as the northern terminus of the Tanglefoot Trail.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Union County Tax Assessor at 109 Main Street W., New Albany, MS 38652, phone 662-534-1902. MS residential assessed at 10% of true value.
Courts & Legal
Union County Chancery Court at 109 Main Street W., New Albany, MS 38652, phone 662-534-1900, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CHANCERY CLERK
109 E. Cherry St., New Albany, MS 38652
(662) 534-1900
CIRCUIT CLERK
109 E. Cherry St., New Albany, MS 38652
(662) 534-1900
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Union County Chancery Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
The Union County Courthouse in New Albany is NRHP-listed, part of a cluster of local historic districts.
Local societies
No dedicated Union 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
Union County Chancery Court P.O. Box 847, New Albany, MS 38652 (662) 534-1900
Union County was founded July 7, 1870, formed from Tippah and Pontotoc counties (with a portion of Lee County added in 1874), in northeastern Mississippi, seated in New Albany – birthplace of Nobel Prize-winning author William Faulkner.
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
109 E. Cherry St., New Albany, MS 38652
(662) 534-1921
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
109 E. Cherry St., New Albany, MS 38652
(662) 534-1900
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MS Dept of Health — North Mississippi
(662) 534-1311
Baptist Memorial Hospital — Union County
baptistonline.org (New Albany — quality regional hospital)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Union County Health Department (Mississippi State Department of Health) – confirm current phone via unioncoms.com.
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