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Office: Grant County Emergency Manager/911 Coordinator – Grant County Courthouse, 106 2nd Ave. NE, Carson, ND 58529 | PO Box 261 | (701) 622-3944; Emergency Manager Jared Fischer, [email protected]. DO NOT use this number for the Sheriff’s Office or emergencies.
Sheriff: Grant County Sheriff’s Office – 106 2nd Ave. NE, Carson, ND 58529 | (701) 622-3331 | Hours: Mon-Fri 8 AM-4 PM MT; non-emergency dispatch via ND State Radio, (701) 328-9921 or (800) 472-2121.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. NAMING TRAP: there are separate, unrelated Grant Counties in South Dakota and Indiana – double-check any search results before citing a source.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: ND-49 serves Carson, the county seat, in southwestern North Dakota; Elgin, roughly 20 miles away, is the county’s largest city.
Notes: Grant County, created 1916 from the southwest portion of Morton County, is named for Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th U.S. President. Carson was founded in 1910 and remains a very small town – around 250 residents.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Grant County Auditor – PO Box 263, Carson, ND 58529 | (701) 622-3311.
Notes: The Grant County Historical Society, founded 1970, operates Pioneer Village in Carson, preserving a homestead tar-paper shack, a rural one-room schoolhouse (Carl School), a 1910 railroad depot built by the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, and a fully operational 1920 Rumley Oil Pull tractor. New Leipzig, one of the county’s smaller communities, retains a distinctly German heritage. Elgin, the largest city, is home to Jacobson Memorial Hospital and Care Center.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Grant County Veterans Service Office – confirm current contact via grantcountynd.com or veterans.nd.gov.
Federal: Fargo VA Medical Center (long distance, eastern ND).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Elgin: Elgin Public Library – 121 Main Street North, Elgin, ND 58533 | (701) 584-2181; roughly 9,600 volumes, circulating about 3,000 items annually, open Mon-Fri; doubles as a Cultural Center with a meeting room.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Pioneer Village (Carson) and the Grant County Fairgrounds are the county’s notable local landmarks.
Notes: The genuine Pioneer Village heritage site, with an operational vintage 1920 Rumley Oil Pull tractor, is a distinctive local fact.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Grant County Tax Director – PO Box 263, Carson, ND 58529 | (701) 622-3311.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
No dedicated county animal shelter was confirmed in this search – Grant County has a very small population (roughly 2,200 residents); animal-related concerns likely route through the Sheriff’s Office. Confirm directly via grantcountynd.com.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Grant County Extension Office (NDSU Extension) – PO Box 137, Carson, ND 58529 | (701) 622-3470 | Fax: (701) 622-3717.
NOTES: Grant County is the fifth county in the North Dakota v2 redo’s third batch (Emmons, Foster, Golden Valley, Grand Forks, Grant, Griggs, Hettinger). The genuine Pioneer Village heritage site is a distinctive local fact. 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 Grant County County
Grant County is south-central North Dakota’s Cannonball River and Standing Rock border county – the river whose name and recent national prominence connect the county to both geological history and contemporary tribal sovereignty and the rolling mixed-grass plains near the South Dakota border define a community where Carson serves the county’s agricultural families.
Carson (the county seat, population ~280) is Grant County’s governmental hub on ND-49, a small south-central North Dakota community whose Cannonball River access, Standing Rock proximity, and agricultural economy anchor its identity.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Grant County Assessor at 106 2nd Avenue NE, Carson, ND 58529, phone 701-622-3615. ND assessed at 50% of true and full value.
Courts & Legal
Grant County District Court at 106 2nd Avenue NE, Carson, ND 58529, phone 701-622-3615, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT
108 Roosevelt Ave, Carson, ND 58529
(701) 622-3311
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Grant County Clerk of District Court, Carson (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Grant 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
Grant County Clerk of District Court – South Central Judicial District 106 2nd Avenue NE (mail: P.O. Box 258), Carson, ND 58529 (701) 622-3615 Grant County is in southwestern North Dakota, seated in Carson.
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.
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
108 Roosevelt Ave, Carson, ND 58529
(701) 622-3313
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
108 Roosevelt Ave, Carson, ND 58529
(701) 622-3311
Department
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health
108 Roosevelt Ave, Carson, ND 58529
(701) 622-3311
Social Services
108 Roosevelt Ave, Carson, ND 58529
(701) 622-3241
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Western Plains Public Health – PO Box 164, Carson, ND 58529 | (701) 622-3591; Public Health Nurse Heidi Peltz, [email protected].
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Carson
Population: 2,300
Public Records
TruthFinder
Search public records for Grant County County residents.
