Montana Probate Guide
County-specific probate filing-office contacts, filing fees, required forms, and step-by-step guidance for families settling an estate in Montana.
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Types of Probate in Montana
Montana runs probate in the district court of each of its 56 counties, so there is no separate probate court to find, and the filing is made in the county even though the counties are grouped into 22 judicial districts. What changes is the route, not the courthouse. The Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-1101 affidavit stays out of court entirely: thirty days after the death, a successor collects personal property from whoever holds it where the probate estate, wherever located, is worth $100,000 or less after liens for a death on or after October 1, 2023. A house counts toward that $100,000 but cannot pass through the affidavit. Inside the court sit informal probate and appointment, which the clerk of district court grants without a judge, formal testacy proceedings before a judge, supervised administration, and the §§ 72-3-1103 and 72-3-1104 summary procedure for an estate no larger than the allowances and expenses it owes. Opening an estate costs $100 in every county.
See the full comparison of Montana probate typesWhich procedures exist, who qualifies, and how the timelines compare.Find your county
Montana Probate Filing Offices by County
Choose your county to get its probate court contacts, filing fees, and required forms. 56 counties have detailed data.
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Browse Montana guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Browse Montana guide topics
Jump to court, executor, tax, planning, property, and probate-avoidance guides that match your next task.
Forms & Court
3Executor Duties
7Taxes & Deadlines
10Planning Documents
6Property Transfer
2Montana Probate Self-Help and Online Resources
Montana probate resource map by source type
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
Public law library research paths for probate, wills, trusts, classes, guides, and community legal-information resources.
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
All Montana self-help resources (13 links)Official court, form, law-library, referral, and legal-education links, plus how to use each source
Montana probate source navigation starts with state court, form, agency, legal-help, or referral links that are already tracked in Settled state data. These links are state-level starting points, not county-specific filing instructions.
Which Montana probate source should you use?
- Start with the state court, form, or self-help source for general Montana probate context.
- Use county filing-office, clerk, register, or court pages for local filing locations, local forms, fee schedules, and records portals.
- Use legal-help, law-library, or referral links as research or referral paths, not as a substitute for counsel.
- Verify current filing steps with the county office, court, clerk, register, legal-aid source, or counsel before filing.
Statewide process, forms, and code sources
State court, form, statute, agency, and self-help sources for general probate and estate-settlement questions.
- Montana Judicial Branch, Statement of Inability to Pay Court Costs and Fees
The court's own form for asking the court to waive filing fees for a person who cannot pay them.
- Montana DPHHS Office of Inspector General, Third Party Liability and Estate Recovery
The Medicaid estate recovery program under Mont. Code Ann. §§ 53-6-167 to 53-6-169. Montana recovers from property passing by survival or a living trust as well as from the probate estate.
- Montana Department of Revenue, Estate and Inheritance Tax
The Department of Revenue's statement that Montana does not have an estate tax for deaths after 2004 and no longer collects estate or inheritance taxes.
- Montana Department of Revenue, Estate and Trust Income Tax Filing Requirements
When an estate must file the Montana fiduciary income tax return, Form FID-3. This is an income tax on the estate, not an estate tax.
County filing-office sources
County court, clerk, register, or filing-office pages for local probate divisions, filing paths, local forms, fee references, and courthouse-specific resources.
- Montana Court Help Program
The Montana Judicial Branch's self-help service for people without a lawyer, organized by region with self-help centers and remote appointments. Staff give legal information and court forms, not legal advice. E-filing is not available to self-represented filers, so a family filing without a lawyer files on paper with the clerk of district court.
- Montana Judicial Branch, District Courts
The district court list, selectable by county. Probate is filed with the clerk of district court in the county of domicile, in all 56 counties; the 22 judicial districts group the counties but are never the venue.
- Montana Clerks of District Courts, Fee Schedule-Civil (updated May 2024)
The statewide court fee schedule. It prints $100 to open a formal, informal or ancillary probate, built from Mont. Code Ann. §§ 25-1-201(1)(m), 25-1-202(1)(a) and 3-1-317(1)(b), and $85 for a foreign personal representative's filing.
- Montana DPHHS Office of Vital Records, Birth and Death Certificates
How to order a Montana death certificate online, by phone, by mail or in person at any clerk and recorder's office in the state. Any person may order one (Mont. Code Ann. § 50-15-121(4)); the certified copy fee is $16.
Public law library sources
Public law library research paths for probate, wills, trusts, classes, guides, and community legal-information resources.
- State Law Library of Montana, End of Life forms
The statewide, unnumbered probate packets: collecting personal property by affidavit, administering a small estate, opening an informal probate, the notice to creditors, the inventory and the closing statement.
- State Law Library of Montana, Property forms
Real property forms, including the affidavit of death and the termination of joint tenancy used when property passes outside probate.
Referral-navigation sources
Referral paths for finding certified lawyer-referral services when a family wants help locating counsel.
- Montana Legal Services Association
Free civil legal help for eligible low-income Montanans statewide, through a HelpLine and an online application. Callers are screened for income and case type.
- Montana DPHHS Aging and Disability Legal Assistance Program
Legal help and referrals for older Montanans and people with disabilities, including document clinics by appointment and a page of sample legal forms.
- State Bar of Montana, For the Public
The State Bar's public page, including its free lawyer referral service, Licensed Lawyer Montana.
Settled pairs these Montana source links with county pages, forms, first-step guides, transfer guides, and source notes so families can move from statewide context to the local office that handles the estate.
Montana Estate Law Overview
Montana Estate Tax Info
Montana has no estate tax for deaths after 2004, no inheritance tax for deaths after January 1, 2001, and no probate tax. Opening an estate costs a flat $100 court filing fee.
Federal estate tax info
Federal estate tax only applies to estates exceeding $15,000,000 (2026).
Who Inherits Without a Will?
Intestate succession decides who inherits the probate property of a person who dies without a valid will, or the part of an estate a will does not effectively dispose of.
View order of inheritance (no spouse)
Montana Homestead Protection
Montana's homestead is a creditor exemption in the dwelling house or mobile home in which the claimant resides, with its appurtenances and land, up to a capped value. It is created by recording a declaration of homestead; it is not automatic.
Exempt Property
Montana gives a surviving spouse, and in some cases minor, dependent or adult children, three separate protections out of a decedent's probate estate: a $22,500 homestead allowance, up to $15,000 of exempt property, and a reasonable family allowance during administration.