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Office: Burke County Emergency Management – PO Box 386, Bowbells, ND 58721 | (701) 377-4911 | Fax: (701) 377-9330; Director Barry Jager, [email protected].
Sheriff: Burke County Sheriff’s Office – PO Box 250, Bowbells, ND 58721 | (701) 377-2311 | Fax: (701) 377-2177 | Sheriff Nick Throntveit.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: ND-28 and ND-5 serve Bowbells, the county seat, in far northwestern North Dakota near the Canadian border with Saskatchewan.
Notes: Burke County, organized 1910, is named for John Burke, North Dakota’s tenth governor, who later served as U.S. Treasurer under Woodrow Wilson and as a state supreme court justice. Powers Lake, not Bowbells, is the county’s largest city.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Burke County Auditor – PO Box 174, Bowbells, ND 58721 | (701) 377-2661.
Notes: Bowbells is genuinely, charmingly named after the famous Bow Bells of St Mary-le-Bow church in London, England – railroad officials chose the name when the town was founded in 1898 along the main line of the Soo Line Railroad. The Burke County Courthouse (built 1928, designed by the same Minneapolis firm, Toltz, King & Day, that designed the Barnes and Ward county courthouses) is genuinely NRHP-listed (1985).
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Burke County Veterans Service Office – (701) 339-9478 or (701) 377-2718 (via Clerk of Court); VSO Jeff Whillock.
Federal: Fargo VA Medical Center (long distance, eastern ND).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Bowbells: Bowbells Public Library – 200 Madison Ave, Bowbells, ND 58721 | (701) 377-2397 or (701) 377-2424; confirm current hours via burkecountynd.com.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The historic Burke County Courthouse and small-town heritage of Bowbells (population ~300) are the county’s notable local landmarks; the surrounding agricultural landscape supports hunting and outdoor recreation.
Notes: The genuine “Bow Bells of London” naming origin is a distinctive, checkable local fact.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Burke County Tax Director – PO Box 174, Bowbells, ND 58721 | (701) 377-2661.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
No dedicated county animal shelter was confirmed in this search – Burke County has a very small population (roughly 2,100 residents); animal-related concerns likely route through the Sheriff’s Office. Confirm directly via burkecountynd.com.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Burke County Weed Control – PO Box 280, Bowbells, ND 58721 | (701) 377-2927 | Fax: (701) 377-2703.
NOTES: Burke County is the seventh and final county in the North Dakota v2 redo’s first batch (Adams, Barnes, Benson, Billings, Bottineau, Bowman, Burke). The genuine “Bow Bells of London” naming heritage for the town of Bowbells is a distinctive local fact. Because this is a very small rural county, several service categories could not be fully confirmed and are honestly flagged rather than invented. 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 Burke County County
Burke County is northwest North Dakota’s Souris River and Bakken Formation wheat and oil county – the international river looping through the Canadian border region and the tight oil formation that transformed western North Dakota’s economy define a community where Bowbells serves the county’s farming and energy families near Canada.
Bowbells (the county seat, population ~330) is Burke County’s governmental hub on US 52, a remote northwest North Dakota community whose Souris River access, Bakken oil production, wheat farming, and courthouse anchor its identity near Canada.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Burke County Assessor at 103 N. Main Street, Bowbells, ND 58721, phone 701-377-2718. ND assessed at 50% of true and full value.
Courts & Legal
Burke County District Court at 103 N. Main Street, Bowbells, ND 58721, phone 701-377-2718, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT
206 South Main St, Bowbells, ND 58721
(701) 377-2822
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Burke County Clerk of District Court, Bowbells (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Burke 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
Burke County Clerk of District Court – Northwest Judicial District 103 Main Street NE (mail: P.O. Box 219), Bowbells, ND 58721 (701) 377-2718 Burke County is in northwestern North Dakota near the Canadian border, seated in Bowbells.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
North Dakota has adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), under Title 30.1 of the North Dakota Century Code – one of only about 18 states to do so. Probate is handled through the state District Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property of the Decedent (Form 1, NDCC § 30.1-23) – available when the estate’s personal property, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000 (raised from $50,000 by 2025’s HB 1224) AND there is no real property in the estate. Requires a 30-day wait after death, no court filing. Mineral and oil/gas rights are classified as real property and can never be transferred by this affidavit – worth flagging in Burke County, which sits within North Dakota’s Bakken oil-producing region.
Informal Probate – available when less than 3 years have passed since death, the validity of the will isn’t disputed, and everyone with equal or higher priority for appointment agrees on the personal representative. No court hearing required; unsupervised administration is the default.
Formal Probate – required when the will’s validity is contested, someone objects to informal probate, or more than 3 years have passed since death.
Supervised Administration – a court can require ongoing supervision if protection of the estate calls for it.
Step 2: filing for administration
File an Application (informal) or Petition (formal) for Probate of Will and Appointment of Personal Representative with the Clerk of District Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled.
The court/registrar issues Letters Testamentary (with a will) or Letters of Administration (intestate) to the personal representative.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors; North Dakota’s creditor claim period is 3 months from first publication.
The personal representative inventories and manages the estate’s assets, pays debts and expenses, and distributes what remains according to the will or North Dakota’s intestacy law.
The estate is closed with a final accounting/closing statement.
What it costs
No court filing fee for the Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property.
Filing fees for informal/formal probate vary but generally follow the statewide statutory schedule.
North Dakota does NOT have a statutory fee schedule for attorneys or personal representatives – fees must be “reasonable” based on services provided.
No state estate tax, 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
206 South Main St, Bowbells, ND 58721
(701) 377-2286
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
206 South Main St, Bowbells, ND 58721
(701) 377-2924
Department
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health
206 South Main St, Bowbells, ND 58721
(701) 377-2924
Social Services
206 South Main St, Bowbells, ND 58721
(701) 377-2224
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Burke County District Health – (701) 377-2316.
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Editorial Trust
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Bowbells
Population: 2,000
Public Records
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