Franklin County Probate Records

Franklin County probate court records are filed and stored at the Probate and Family Court in Greenfield. This court serves 26 rural towns in the northwest corner of Massachusetts. You can search for wills, estate files, guardianship orders, trust records, and conservatorship cases through this office. The Franklin County Justice Center on Hope Street holds all current and recent files. Online searches work through MassCourts, and the court's Virtual Registry lets you connect with staff by phone or video. Historical records for the county date back to 1812, when Franklin was split off from Hampshire County.

Franklin County Probate and Family Court

The Franklin County Probate and Family Court is in the Franklin County Justice Center at 43 Hope Street in Greenfield. Mail goes to P.O. Box 590, Greenfield, MA 01302. Register John F. Merrigan runs the clerk office. First Justice Hon. Kathleen Sandman presides over the court. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM.

You can reach the court at three phone numbers: (413) 774-7011, (413) 774-7012, or (413) 774-7013. For document requests specifically, call (413) 775-7464. The fax number is (413) 774-3829, and email is franklinprobate@jud.state.ma.us. ADA help is available through Katherine Donelan at (413) 775-7458. This is one of the smaller courts in the state, but it handles the full range of probate matters for all 26 towns in the county.

The court's official page on mass.gov shows the current address and contact info for the Franklin County probate court.

From here you can find links to court forms, hours, and staff contacts for the Greenfield office.

Search Franklin County Probate Court Records

The MassCourts portal is the best way to look up Franklin County probate court records online. Set the department to "Probate & Family Court" and pick Franklin as the division. Search by name or case number. The results show party names, case type, docket entries, and case status. You may also see document images for cases filed from 2009 on.

For in-person searches, visit the Justice Center at 43 Hope Street. Bring your ID. Staff can look up records by name, date range, or docket number. You can view files and request copies right there. Call (413) 775-7464 if you want to ask about a document before you come in.

The Virtual Registry runs Monday through Friday. Morning hours are 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM, and afternoon hours are 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM. The meeting ID is 1606480378 and the phone number is (646) 828-7666. Staff can help with filings, questions, and record lookups during these windows.

The Virtual Registry page for Franklin County lists hours and ways to connect with staff remotely.

This option works well for people in the more rural towns of the county who can't easily get to Greenfield.

Probate Filing Fees in Franklin County

Franklin County uses the same fee schedule as every other Probate and Family Court in Massachusetts. Informal probate costs $375 plus a $15 surcharge. Formal probate adds a citation fee on top of that. The full fee list is on mass.gov.

Copy fees follow a set scale. A certified copy of a decree costs $20 to $22. Plain copies are $1 per page. Attested copies run $2.50 per page. An exemplified copy is $50 plus $1 per page after the first. Account filing fees depend on the estate's value and can range from $0 for small estates up to $3,500 for estates worth more than $10 million. These fees are set by statute under M.G.L. c. 262, § 40 and apply to all probate courts in the state, including Franklin County.

Fee waivers are available. File an Affidavit of Indigency with the court if you can't pay.

Franklin County Probate Court Records Guide

Probate cases in Franklin County produce several types of documents. Estate files hold the will, petition, inventory, and accounts. Guardianship cases have petitions, medical reports, care plans, and court orders. Conservatorship files include financial reports and asset inventories. Name change cases contain the petition and the court decree.

Under the Massachusetts Uniform Probate Code (M.G.L. c. 190B), personal representatives must file inventories within three months of their appointment. They also file accounts at set intervals. All of these go into the case file at the Franklin County court. Most probate records are public and you can view them or get copies. Some records about minors or incapacitated persons may have restricted parts.

Most Franklin County probate records are public and available for review at the clerk's office. You can also request copies by mail using the PFC 18 form or contact the virtual registry for help over Zoom.

Franklin County Historical Probate Records

Franklin County was set up in 1812, carved out of Hampshire County. Probate records start from that year. The historical collection includes an index from 1812 to 1965, docket books from 1810 to 1921, record books from 1812 to 1894, and file papers from 1812 to 1915. The court handled 18,089 probate cases that produced over 440,600 individual file papers across that period.

Online access to these historical files is available through FamilySearch and AmericanAncestors. The Supreme Judicial Court Archives also holds some early Franklin County records. If you need probate records from before 1812 for towns now in Franklin County, you should look in Hampshire County, since Franklin was part of Hampshire before the split. The historic records guide on mass.gov shows exactly what has been digitized for each county.

Note: For pre-1812 probate records for Franklin County towns, search in Hampshire County, which held these areas before the split.

Filing Cases in Franklin County

New probate cases in Franklin County can be filed in person at the Justice Center or through eFileMA. The eFiling system charges a $22 provider fee for each new case plus the court filing fee. No extra fee applies for later filings in the same case. Credit cards carry a 2.89% processing fee. eCheck payments are $0.25 each.

To get copies of Franklin County probate court records by mail, use the PFC 18 form. Fill it out with the case name and docket number. Send it to the court at P.O. Box 590, Greenfield, MA 01302 with your payment. Checks go to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. By mail, they only take attorney checks, money orders, and bank certified checks. In person, you can pay with cash or credit cards too. All court forms for estates, wills, and trusts are free at mass.gov.

Towns in Franklin County

Franklin County has 26 towns. All probate filings go through the court in Greenfield. None of the towns in the county have a separate city page on this site. The main communities include Greenfield, Montague, Deerfield, Sunderland, Orange, Shelburne, Northfield, and Ashfield. Each of these towns files all probate cases at the Franklin County Justice Center.

Nearby Counties

These counties border Franklin County. Check the town where the person lived to make sure you are filing at the right court. Jurisdiction depends on where the person was domiciled.