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Montana Executor Duties
Pillar GuideMontana25 min read

Montana Executor Duties

Montana executor duties in statute order: notify heirs in 30 days, publish to creditors, inventory in 9 months, pay claims, then close.

By Settled Editorial

Montana executor duties start at appointment and run in a fixed order. The personal representative signs a sworn fiduciary statement, qualifies, tells the heirs and devisees within 30 days, publishes notice to creditors, takes control of the property, finishes an inventory within 9 months, pays allowed claims in the order the statute sets, accounts, and closes by sworn statement no earlier than 6 months after appointment.

Montana calls the office personal representative. MCA 72-1-103(37) says the term includes executor, administrator, successor personal representative and special administrator, along with anyone who performs much the same function under the law governing their status. Executor is the word most people search for when a will named them. Title 72, Montana's version of the Uniform Probate Code, uses personal representative for every version of the job, and so does this page.

A note on the links. Every rule below was read on September 27, 2026 at its section page on mca.legmt.gov, the Montana Legislature's host for the Montana Code Annotated 2025. The Legislature meets in odd years, so the 2025 code is the text in force. Read this beside the Montana probate guide for how the case itself moves, and the Montana probate timeline for the dates on one page.

Who Can Serve, and Who Goes First

Being named in the will puts you at the front of the line. The appointment is what gives you authority.

MCA 72-3-502 sets one priority order for formal and informal proceedings alike:

  1. The person with priority under a probated will, including someone nominated by a power in the will
  2. The surviving spouse who is also a devisee
  3. The custodial parent of a minor decedent
  4. Other devisees
  5. The surviving spouse
  6. The parent of an adult decedent who was survived by issue, none of whom is an adult
  7. Other heirs
  8. The public administrator
  9. Any creditor, once 45 days have passed since the death

Rows 3 and 6 are Montana's own. They do not appear in the uniform text most national checklists copy, so the parent of an adult decedent who left only minor children ranks ahead of the other heirs.

The age floor is 18. Under MCA 72-3-501, nobody under 18 may serve, and neither may a person the court finds unsuitable in formal proceedings.

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Getting Appointed by the Clerk of District Court

Montana has no separate probate court. The district court of the county where the decedent lived hears the case, and in an informal case the Clerk of District Court makes the appointment. MCA 72-3-225(1) has the clerk appoint the applicant once at least 120 hours have passed since the death. Where the decedent lived outside Montana, the clerk waits until 30 days after the death, unless the applicant is the personal representative appointed at the decedent's home state or the will puts the estate under Montana law. The Montana courts directory lists the clerk for each county.

Two filings come with the application, and one of them is unusual.

  • The sworn fiduciary acknowledgment. MCA 72-3-109 requires every applicant to sign, before a notary or under penalty of perjury, a statement that you will work only for the benefit of the estate and its beneficiaries, that you may not use estate property for your own benefit, that any benefit from the appointment goes to the estate, and that you must avoid conflicts of interest and use ordinary skill and prudence.
  • Qualification. Under MCA 72-3-512, before you receive letters you file any required bond and a statement accepting the duties of the office. Accepting also submits you personally to the court's jurisdiction in any proceeding an interested person brings about the estate, under MCA 72-3-511. How letters issue, and what a certified copy lets you do, is covered in Montana letters testamentary.

An informal appointment fully establishes the office and its powers. It can be ended by the termination rules in Part 5, and it is not subject to retroactive vacation.

Bond: Off by Default, and 5,000 Dollars Turns It On

MCA 72-3-513(1) says bond is not required of a personal representative appointed in informal proceedings, with three exceptions:

  • The appointment of a special administrator
  • A will that expressly requires bond
  • A bond required under 72-3-514

The demand rule is the one that surprises people. Under MCA 72-3-514, anyone with an apparent interest in the estate worth more than 5,000 dollars, or any creditor with a claim over 5,000 dollars, may file a written demand with the clerk and mail you a copy. Bond is then required. From the time you get notice until the bond is filed, you may act only as needed to preserve the estate, and failing to post suitable bond within 30 days is cause for removal. In a formal proceeding, 72-3-513(2) lets the court order bond at appointment. The page on whether you need a bond covers the amount and the surety.

Your Duties Start at Appointment and Reach Back

MCA 72-3-601 starts your duties and powers at appointment. The powers then relate back, so acts you took before appointment that benefited the estate carry the same effect as acts taken afterward. Securing the house in the first week falls inside that rule.

One thing is allowed before any appointment exists. A person named executor in a will may carry out the decedent's written instructions about the body, the funeral and burial. After appointment you may also ratify acts that others did for the estate, where those acts would have been proper for a personal representative.

Within 30 Days: Tell the Heirs and Devisees

This is the first dated duty, and Montana keeps the uniform version. MCA 72-3-603(1) requires every personal representative except a special administrator to give information of the appointment to the heirs and devisees not later than 30 days after appointment. Deliver it or send it by ordinary mail to each one whose address is reasonably available. Where you were appointed on the assumption that there was no will, it also goes to the devisees in any will mentioned in your application.

Under 72-3-603(2), the notice has to:

  • Give your name and address
  • Say it goes to people who have or may have an interest in the estate
  • Say whether bond has been filed
  • Describe the court where the estate papers are on file
  • State that you are administering the estate under the Uniform Probate Code without court supervision, and that recipients are entitled to information from you and may petition the court on any matter, including distribution and administration expenses

Skipping it has a price. Under 72-3-603(3), failing to give this information is a breach of your duty to those people. It does not undo your appointment, your powers or your other duties.

Publish Notice to Creditors: Montana Makes It Mandatory

Here is where Montana differs from states such as Idaho and Utah, where publishing is optional. MCA 72-3-801(1) says a personal representative upon appointment shall publish a notice once a week for 3 successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county. The notice announces your appointment and address and tells creditors to present claims within 4 months after the date of the first publication or be forever barred.

Mailed notice is optional and adds its own clock. Under 72-3-801(2), a creditor you write to directly has the later of the 4 months from publication or 30 days from your mailing. Subsection (3) says you are not liable to a creditor or a successor for giving or failing to give notice.

MCA 72-3-803(1) bars claims that arose before the death unless presented within the earlier of 1 year after the death or the notice periods in 72-3-801. Claims based on a contract you made as personal representative run 4 months from when your performance is due.

Once a claim comes in, MCA 72-3-805(1) runs two 60-day clocks. Mail a notice of disallowance that warns of the bar, and the claimant has 60 days to petition or sue. Say nothing for 60 days after the presentation period ends, and your silence counts as allowance. The page on publishing the notice to creditors covers presentment step by step.

Take Possession and Protect the Property

MCA 72-3-606 gives you both a right and a duty to take possession or control of the decedent's property, unless the will says otherwise. You may leave real property and tangible personal property with the person presumptively entitled to it until you judge that you need it for administration. If you ask an heir or devisee to hand something over, your request is conclusive evidence in a later lawsuit that you needed it.

Under 72-3-606(2), you pay the taxes on the property in your possession and take all steps reasonably necessary to manage, protect and preserve it. You may also sue to recover property or to settle title. That duty commonly covers keeping insurance in force, holding estate cash in an estate account, and checking on a vacant house.

The Inventory: 9 Months, Probate Property Only

Montana gives you far longer than the uniform 3 months. MCA 72-3-607(1) sets the deadline at 9 months after appointment. You list the probate property the decedent owned at death in reasonable detail, with each item's fair market value as of the date of death and the type and amount of any encumbrance. A special administrator is outside the duty, and so is a successor who follows someone who already did it.

Under 72-3-607(2) you may hire a qualified and disinterested appraiser for any asset whose value is open to reasonable doubt, and the appraiser's name and address go on the inventory next to the items appraised. A category-by-category list of what to include and leave off is in the Montana probate inventory guide.

Delivery works one of two ways under 72-3-607(3):

  • Send a copy to the heirs, devisees and creditors with allowed but unpaid claims who ask for one, or
  • File the original with the court and send a copy to interested persons who ask

Any of them may waive a copy in writing under 72-3-607(4).

A surviving spouse has an extra lever. Under 72-3-607(6), a spouse whose elective-share right under 72-2-232 has not expired can demand a list of all property the decedent owned at death, probate and nonprobate, with values and the name of each nonprobate transferee. Unless the court orders otherwise, you mail it within 90 days of the demand. That list is how the spouse measures the elective share, which is covered with the allowances in what the surviving spouse can claim.

Found something later, or a value turns out wrong? MCA 72-3-609 requires a supplemental inventory, filed with the court if the original was filed, or sent to the people the new information affects.

The Standard You Are Held To

MCA 72-3-610 makes you a fiduciary who observes the standards of care that apply to trustees under Montana law. You settle and distribute the estate under the will and the code "as expeditiously and efficiently as is consistent with the best interests of the estate."

MCA 72-3-605 lets you do that without an order or direction of the court, unless the estate is in supervised administration, while leaving you free to ask the court to resolve a question.

Your power is broad. Under MCA 72-3-619(1), until your appointment ends you hold the same power over title to estate property that an absolute owner would, in trust for the creditors and others interested in the estate, and you can use it without notice, hearing or court order. MCA 72-3-613 lists the transactions, and subsections (6) and (23) let you sell land for cash or on credit, at public or private sale, unless the will or an order in a formal proceeding restricts it. Selling the house during probate walks through the deed and the closing.

Two sections set the limits:

  • Conflicts of interest. Under MCA 72-3-615, a sale or encumbrance to you, your spouse, your agent or your attorney, or to a corporation or trust in which you hold a sizable beneficial interest, and any transaction affected by a serious conflict of interest on your part, is voidable by any interested person who did not consent after fair disclosure. Two things save it: the will or a contract the decedent signed expressly authorized it, or the court approved it after notice to interested persons.
  • Personal liability. Under MCA 72-3-616(1), an improper exercise of power makes you liable to interested persons for the resulting loss, to the same extent as a trustee of an express trust.

Paying Claims in the Order the Statute Sets

Payment waits for the clock. MCA 72-3-808(1) has you pay allowed claims once the earlier of the 72-3-803 limits expires, after setting aside the homestead, family and support allowances, claims still pending, unbarred claims that may still arrive, and administration costs.

Paying early is allowed and priced. Under 72-3-808(3), if you pay a claim before the deadline without requiring security for a refund, or pay through negligence or willful fault in a way that costs another claimant their priority, you are personally liable to the claimant you hurt.

When the estate cannot pay everyone, MCA 72-3-807(1) sets the order:

  1. Costs and expenses of administration
  2. Reasonable funeral expenses, and reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness
  3. Federal estate and Montana state estate taxes
  4. Current and past-due child support under a support order
  5. Debts with preference under federal and Montana law
  6. Other federal and Montana state taxes
  7. All other claims

Within a class nobody gets a preference, and a claim that is due gets none over one that is not yet due. The child support row is a Montana addition. The page on the order debts are paid works through a short estate.

Joint Tenancy and Life Estate Land Still Needs a Filing

Real property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship, or a life estate that ended at death, passes outside probate. Someone still has to clear the record.

MCA 72-16-503 requires a person with an interest in the property to record, with the clerk and recorder of each county where any part of it lies, the document described in MCA 7-4-2613(1)(c). That is an acknowledged statement that the holder of the joint tenancy or life estate interest has died and the interest has terminated, with a legal description of the property. MCA 72-16-502 writes this part for a decedent who leaves no property that requires a personal representative, so the surviving owner can file it without opening a probate case. The Montana State Law Library posts an unnumbered "Affidavit of Death" form on the Judicial Branch's estate-planning and probate forms page.

What a Montana Personal Representative Gets Paid

Montana publishes no percentage and no fee schedule. MCA 72-3-631(1) says "A personal representative is entitled to reasonable compensation for services." Under 72-3-631(2), where the will sets your pay and you had no contract with the decedent about it, you may renounce the will's provision before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead. You may also give up all or part of your fee, and a written renunciation may be filed with the court.

Disputes go to the judge. Under MCA 72-3-634, on a motion by an interested person, by you, or by someone you hired, the court reviews whether hiring an attorney, accountant or other agent was proper, whether their pay was reasonable, and whether the pay you set for yourself was reasonable. In a fee dispute the court sets the fee, and anyone paid too much can be ordered to refund it. Time records kept from the first week are what give the reasonableness question an answer. The Montana executor compensation page sets out how a reasonable fee is reviewed.

Taxes

Montana does not have an estate tax for deaths after 2004, according to the Montana Department of Revenue, which also says it no longer requires a certificate or consent to close probate. The estate may still owe federal filings and a Montana fiduciary income tax return. The estate's tax filings are covered on their own page.

Closing: Accounting, a Sworn Statement, and a 6-Month Tail

Montana requires an accounting before the estate closes, which the model code does not. MCA 72-3-1005(1) has you either file with the court or deliver to all interested persons an accounting under oath showing the money received and spent, the claims presented, the claimants' names, and everything else needed to show the estate's affairs. Under 72-3-1005(3), no accounting is needed where you are the sole residual beneficiary. The final accounting page shows what goes in it.

Then comes the closing statement. MCA 72-3-1004(1) lets you close an unsupervised estate by filing a verified statement no earlier than 6 months after the date of original appointment of a general personal representative. The statement says three things:

  1. The time limit for presenting creditors' claims has expired
  2. You fully administered the estate by paying, settling or otherwise disposing of the claims presented, the administration expenses and any estate and other death taxes, and distributed the assets to the persons entitled, with any undischarged claims and the arrangements for them spelled out
  3. You sent a copy to all distributees and to every known creditor whose claim is neither paid nor barred, and gave a full written account of the administration to the distributees it affects

Two dates follow. Under 72-3-1004(2), if no proceeding involving you is pending 1 year after the statement is filed, your appointment ends. Under MCA 72-3-1011, claims by successors and unbarred creditors against you for breach of fiduciary duty are barred unless brought within 6 months after the closing statement is filed. That bar does not reach fraud, misrepresentation or inadequate disclosure.

The Two-Year Rule: Show Cause, and a Possible Fee Forfeit

Montana polices slow estates. Under MCA 72-3-1015(1), if an estate is not closed within 2 years from the date of the personal representative's appointment, the supreme court administrator notifies the district judge, and the judge orders the personal representative and the attorney to appear and show cause why it is still open.

If the judge finds no good cause, 72-3-1015(2) says the judge may order the estate closed within 30 days and bar both the personal representative and the attorney from receiving any fee or other compensation from the estate. The forfeit is the judge's call. An estate held open for a real reason, such as a lawsuit or land that has not sold, is what the good-cause hearing exists to hear.

If Things Go Wrong: Removal

MCA 72-3-526 lets any interested person petition to remove a personal representative for cause at any time. Once you receive notice of the petition, you may act only to account, correct maladministration or preserve the estate. Cause exists where removal would be in the best interests of the estate, or where you or the person who sought your appointment intentionally misrepresented material facts, or where you disregarded a court order, became unable to do the job, mismanaged the estate, or failed to perform any duty of the office.

Common Questions

What are the duties of an executor in Montana?

Montana calls the job personal representative. The statute has the personal representative sign the sworn fiduciary acknowledgment in MCA 72-3-109, qualify under 72-3-512, tell the heirs and devisees about the appointment within 30 days under 72-3-603, publish notice to creditors under 72-3-801, take possession of the property and pay its taxes under 72-3-606, prepare an inventory within 9 months under 72-3-607, pay allowed claims in the 72-3-807 order once the 72-3-803 limit runs, give the 72-3-1005 accounting, and close by sworn statement no earlier than 6 months after appointment under 72-3-1004.

Is an executor the same as a personal representative in Montana?

Yes. MCA 72-1-103(37) says personal representative includes executor, administrator, successor personal representative, special administrator, and anyone who performs much the same function under the law governing their status. Title 72 uses personal representative throughout, so the duties in Chapter 3, Part 6 apply the same way whether a will named you or not.

When is the Montana estate inventory due?

Within 9 months after appointment. MCA 72-3-607(1) has a personal representative who is not a special administrator, and not a successor to someone who already did it, list the probate property the decedent owned at death in reasonable detail, with fair market value as of the date of death and the type and amount of any encumbrance. Under 72-3-607(3) you either send a copy to the heirs, devisees and unpaid allowed creditors who ask for one, or file the original with the court and send copies to interested persons who ask. A spouse with an unexpired elective-share right can demand a separate probate and nonprobate property list, due within 90 days of the demand under 72-3-607(6).

Does a Montana personal representative have to publish notice to creditors?

Yes. MCA 72-3-801(1) says a personal representative upon appointment shall publish a notice once a week for 3 successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, telling creditors to present claims within 4 months after the first publication or be forever barred. A creditor you mail notice to gets the later of that 4 months or 30 days from the mailing under 72-3-801(2). The outer bar in 72-3-803(1) is 1 year after the death.

Does a Montana personal representative need a bond?

Not in informal proceedings, with three exceptions in MCA 72-3-513(1): a special administrator, a will that expressly requires bond, and a bond demanded under 72-3-514. Under 72-3-514, anyone with an apparent interest in the estate worth more than 5,000 dollars, or a creditor with a claim over 5,000 dollars, can file a written demand with the clerk. From notice until the bond is filed you act only as needed to preserve the estate, and failing to post it within 30 days is cause for removal.

How much does a Montana personal representative get paid?

Reasonable compensation for services, under MCA 72-3-631(1). Montana sets no percentage and no schedule. You may renounce a fee set by the will before qualifying and take reasonable compensation instead, and you may give up all or part of your fee by a written renunciation. On a motion by an interested person, 72-3-634 has the court review and set the fee, and anyone paid too much can be ordered to refund it.

What happens if a Montana estate stays open more than two years?

MCA 72-3-1015(1) has the supreme court administrator notify the district judge when an estate is not closed within 2 years of the personal representative's appointment, and the judge orders the personal representative and the attorney to show cause. If the judge finds no good cause, 72-3-1015(2) lets the judge order the estate closed within 30 days and bar the personal representative and the attorney from receiving any fee from the estate. The judge decides whether the fee bar applies.

This guide is general information about Montana estates. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your own matter with the Clerk of District Court handling the estate, the current text of the statute, or a licensed Montana attorney.

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Information current as of September 27, 2026

Settled Estate is not a law firm, and this content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Probate laws and procedures in Montana can change. Consult with a qualified attorney for advice specific to your situation. Full disclaimer.

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