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North Dakota County
Sioux County, North Dakota
Standing Rock - the nation where Sitting Bull was killed - from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe's Fort Yates headquarters (Fort Yates is the administrative center of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe - the Hunkpapa and Yanktonai Dakota people whose reservation straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border along the Missouri River - and it was at the Standing Rock Agency in Fort Yates that Indian police killed Sitting Bull on December 15, 1890, setting in motion the events that culminated in the Wounded Knee Massacre 14 days later) and Standing Rock's 2016 Dakota Access Pipeline protest significance.
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Tell us your goal and we'll guide you step-by-step to the right office, forms, and official resources.
Office: Sioux County/Standing Rock Emergency Management – PO Box L, Fort Yates, ND 58538 | (701) 854-3481 | Fax: (701) 854-3854.
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911. Sioux County spans two time zones – the eastern portion is Central, the western portion Mountain.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: ND-24 and ND-1806 serve Fort Yates, the county seat, in south-central North Dakota along the Missouri River; Cannon Ball is the largest community.
Notes: Sioux County, created 1914, is entirely coextensive with the North Dakota portion of the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation. Fort Yates, founded 1863 as a U.S. Army post (renamed in 1878 for Captain George Yates, who died at Little Bighorn), is the tribal headquarters of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Sioux County Auditor – Fort Yates, ND 58538; confirm current phone via co.sioux.nd.us.
Notes: Fort Yates is genuinely, famously the original burial site of Hunkpapa Lakota leader Sitting Bull, who was killed nearby on December 15, 1890. His remains rested here until April 8, 1953, when a group from Mobridge, South Dakota – including some of his own descendants – controversially disinterred and relocated them across the river; Fort Yates disputes that the correct remains were actually removed, and maintains a protected, concrete-covered memorial marker at the original gravesite to this day. Sitting Bull College, founded 1973 as a tribal land-grant college, is headquartered in Fort Yates and serves the Standing Rock Reservation. NOTE: the original Sioux County Courthouse (built 1922) was NRHP-listed in 1985 but delisted in 2009 – do not cite it as a current NRHP site.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Sioux County Veterans Service Officer – position vacant as of this search; contact the county auditor’s office or veterans.nd.gov for current status.
Federal: Fargo VA Medical Center (long distance, eastern ND).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Fort Yates: Sioux County Library – 303 2nd Ave, PO Box 94, Fort Yates, ND 58538 | (701) 854-3481. A North Dakota State Library book vending machine is also located at the Sioux County Clerk of Court office in Fort Yates.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Sitting Bull Burial Site (original gravesite marker) and Sitting Bull College are the county’s most historically significant local landmarks.
Notes: The genuine, still-disputed story of Sitting Bull’s grave – between Fort Yates, ND and Mobridge, SD – is one of the most historically resonant facts covered anywhere in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Sioux County Auditor – Fort Yates, ND 58538.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
No dedicated county animal shelter was confirmed in this search – animal-related concerns likely route through tribal or county law enforcement. Confirm directly via co.sioux.nd.us or standingrock.org.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Standing Rock Municipal, Rural and Industrial Water Department – manages the Standing Rock Rural Water System, a $30 million system built starting 2009 serving roughly 10,000 reservation residents.
NOTES: Sioux County is the first county in the North Dakota v2 redo’s seventh and final batch (Sioux, Slope, Stark, Steele, Stutsman, Towner, Traill). The genuine, still-disputed story of Sitting Bull’s original grave is one of the most historically resonant 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 Sioux County
Sioux County is Standing Rock – Fort Yates was where Sitting Bull was killed by Indian police on December 15, 1890, and the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s homeland is one of the most historically resonant Indigenous territories in the American West.
Fort Yates (the county seat, population ~200) serves as the governmental hub for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s North Dakota communities along the Missouri River.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Sioux County Tax Director at 300 Main Street, Fort Yates, ND 58538, phone 701-854-3481. Tribal lands have different assessment status.
Courts & Legal
Sioux County District Court at 300 Main Street, Fort Yates, ND 58538, phone 701-854-3481, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT
300 Main St, Fort Yates, ND 58538
(701) 854-3491
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Sioux County Clerk of District Court, Fort Yates (probate/estate case files – see Probate section above).
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe Tribal Court, Fort Yates, serves the reservation portion of the county.
Local societies
No dedicated Sioux 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
Sioux County Clerk of District Court – South Central Judicial District 302 2nd Avenue (mail: P.O. Box L), Fort Yates, ND 58538 (701) 854-3853
Sioux County is in south-central North Dakota along the Missouri River, seated in Fort Yates. The county largely overlaps the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.
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.
Note: Sioux County largely overlaps the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, so for tribal members, some estate and property matters may fall under Standing Rock Sioux Tribe or federal jurisdiction rather than state probate.
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
300 Main St, Fort Yates, ND 58538
(701) 854-3811
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
300 Main St, Fort Yates, ND 58538
(701) 854-3865
Department
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Public Health
300 Main St, Fort Yates, ND 58538
(701) 854-3865
Social Services
300 Main St, Fort Yates, ND 58538
(701) 854-7635
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Western Plains Public Health – 403 Burlington St SE, Mandan, ND 58554 | (701) 667-3370.
Federal/Tribal: Fort Yates Hospital (Indian Health Service) – 10 Standing Rock Avenue, PO Box J, Fort Yates, ND 58538 | (701) 854-3831; 12-bed hospital with 24/7 Level IV trauma emergency department.
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