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Office: Wibaux County Disaster & Emergency Services – coordinated through the Sheriff’s Office; confirm current phone via wibauxcountymt.gov.
Sheriff: Wibaux County Sheriff’s Office – 206 Wibaux Street, PO Box 322, Wibaux, MT 59353 | (406) 796-2415; Sheriff Shane Harrington. Centralizes all law enforcement countywide (no separate municipal police department); operates the Wibaux County Jail with no online inmate lookup – records requests handled directly.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: I-94 serves Wibaux, the county seat, five miles from the Montana-North Dakota border, making it the first (or last) Montana town on the interstate.
Notes: Wibaux County, established August 17, 1914, is named for Pierre Wibaux, and is pronounced “WEE-boh.” Roughly 885-940 residents.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Wibaux County Courthouse – 200 S Wibaux Street, Wibaux, MT 59353 | (406) 796-2481.
Notes: Wibaux is genuinely named for Pierre Wibaux, a young Frenchman who abandoned his family’s textile business in 1883 at age 25 to seek his fortune ranching cattle on the open range between the Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers; by 1900 his herds reportedly ranged from 35,000 to as many as 75,000-60,000 head, making him one of the largest – some accounts say the largest – cattle ranchers in the world, and making the town (then called Mingusville) the biggest cattle shipping point on the Northern Pacific line. Wibaux personally led a signature-gathering campaign – reportedly signing the same people twice by riding up and down the street – to have the town renamed in his honor. He counted Theodore Roosevelt, then ranching nearby in the Dakota Badlands, among his friends, and staged the area’s first rodeo to entertain visiting French aristocrats. The disastrous winter of 1886-87, which killed as much as 70% of open-range cattle, inspired Charlie Russell’s famous sketch “Waiting for a Chinook.” The Pierre Wibaux Museum, housed in his 1892 office/townhouse, and a large bronze statue of Wibaux remain local landmarks, alongside NRHP-listed St. Peter’s Catholic Church (1885/1895), built with funding from his father.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Wibaux County Veterans Service – confirm current contact via wibauxcountymt.gov.
Federal: VA Montana Health Care System (Fort Harrison/Helena, accessible west).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Wibaux Public Library – 115 South Wibaux Street, PO Box 332, Wibaux, MT 59353-0332 | (406) 796-2452 | Email: [email protected]; roughly 14,200-volume collection, housed in a former bank building that retains its old vault, now used as a “Montana Room” local history reading space.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Pierre Wibaux Museum Complex, the Pierre Wibaux statue, St. Peter’s Catholic Church, and the historic Wibaux Business District are the county’s premier attractions.
Notes: The genuine Pierre Wibaux cattle-baron story – including his self-run town-naming campaign and friendship with Theodore Roosevelt – is one of the most colorful local histories covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Wibaux County Extension – 203 South Wibaux St, PO Box 345, Wibaux, MT 59353-0345 | (406) 796-2486 | Fax: (406) 796-2625.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Confirm current animal control arrangements via wibauxcountymt.gov or the Sheriff’s Office, (406) 796-2415.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Wibaux County – confirm current contact via wibauxcountymt.gov.
NOTES: Wibaux County is the seventh county in the Montana v2 A+ sourced redo’s eighth and final batch. The genuine Pierre Wibaux cattle-baron story is one of the most colorful local histories 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 Wibaux County County
Wibaux County is eastern Montana’s cattle baron Pierre Wibaux county – the French immigrant who bought cattle after the catastrophic 1886-87 winter and rebuilt to 65,000 head defines a county named for one of the most remarkable entrepreneurial stories in Great Plains cattle history, where Wibaux serves the county’s ranching families near North Dakota.
Wibaux (the county seat, population ~530) is Wibaux County’s governmental hub on I-94, a remote eastern Montana community whose Pierre Wibaux museum, cattle ranching heritage, and North Dakota proximity anchor its identity.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Wibaux County Assessor at 200 S. Wibaux Street, Wibaux, MT 59353, phone 406-796-2481. MT assessed at market value.
Courts & Legal
Wibaux County District Court at 200 S. Wibaux Street, Wibaux, MT 59353, phone 406-796-2481, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK AND RECORDER
204 S. Wibaux St., Wibaux, MT 59353
(406) 796-2481
COUNTY CLERK (Elections)
204 S. Wibaux St., Wibaux, MT 59353
(406) 796-2481
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Wibaux County Clerk of District Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Wibaux 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
Wibaux County Clerk of District Court, Probate Division 203 Wibaux Street (mail: P.O. Box 292), Wibaux, MT 59353 (406) 796-2484
Wibaux County was founded August 17, 1914, named for cattle baron Pierre Wibaux, in Montana’s far eastern edge on the North Dakota border, seated in Wibaux – the only incorporated town in the county. It is Montana’s fourth-least populous county, and is part of the 7th Judicial District along with Dawson, McCone, Prairie, and Richland counties.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Montana adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), codified at Title 72 of the Montana Code Annotated (MCA). Probate is handled by the District Court in the county where the decedent resided.
Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit (MCA § 72-3-1101) – available when the value of the probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000. At least 30 days must have passed since the death, and no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted anywhere. The affiant presents the sworn, notarized affidavit (with a certified death certificate) directly to whoever holds the property to collect it – skipping probate court entirely. Must be used within 3 years of death.
Summary Administration – a streamlined court process for estates valued at $100,000 or less; unlike the affidavit procedure, this still goes through the court, just with reduced formality.
Informal Probate – the most common path for uncontested estates. An application can be made to the clerk of district court no sooner than 120 hours (5 days) after death, with minimal court involvement.
Formal Probate – required when there’s no will, when a will’s validity is contested, or when there’s disagreement over the personal representative or distribution. Handled by a district court judge.
Supervised Administration – formal probate with ongoing court oversight of the personal representative.
Step 2: filing for formal or informal probate
File an application (informal) or petition (formal) with the Clerk of District Court in the county where the decedent resided, no sooner than 120 hours after death.
The court or clerk appoints the personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors and gives direct notice to known creditors. Creditors generally have 4 months from the date of first publication to file claims.
The personal representative inventories and appraises the estate’s assets.
After debts, taxes, and expenses are paid and the creditor claim period expires, the personal representative distributes the remaining assets and closes the estate.
What it costs
Montana does not set statutory percentage-based fees; personal representative and attorney fees are generally “reasonable compensation” based on time and complexity.
Montana has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could 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
204 S. Wibaux St., Wibaux, MT 59353
(406) 796-2351
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Elections)
204 S. Wibaux St., Wibaux, MT 59353
(406) 796-2481
ELECTIONS
204 S. Wibaux St., Wibaux, MT 59353
(406) 796-2481
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MT DPHHS — Wibaux
(406) 796-2481
Wibaux County Health Center
wibauxhealthcenter.org (Wibaux — critical access clinic; residents rely on Glendive for hospital care)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Wibaux County Public Health – confirm current phone via wibauxcountymt.gov.
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County Facts
County Seat: Wibaux
Population: 1,000
Area: 889 sq mi
Established: 1914
Public Records
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