First Steps After a Death in Montana

A physician, or the hospice team if the death was expected under hospice care, pronounces the death; if it was unexpected, call 911. Then choose a funeral home or cremation provider. The person in charge of disposition of the body, usually the funeral director, gathers the personal data, has the cause of death certified by the physician, advanced practice registered nurse or coroner, and files the death certificate with the local registrar (Mont. Code Ann. 50-15-403). The funeral home can usually order your first certified copies.

Lock the house, keep utilities and property insurance paid, and do not divide belongings yet. Montana property passes at death to the devisees under the will, or to the heirs if there is no will, but subject to the homestead allowance, exempt property, the family allowance, the rights of creditors, the surviving spouse's elective share, and administration (Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-101(2)). Until those are settled nobody holds a clear title.

Look for the original signed will and codicils, any separate list of personal belongings the will refers to, trust documents, deeds, vehicle titles, account statements and life insurance policies. Montana sets no fixed number of days for delivering a will: whoever holds it must deliver it with reasonable promptness, after the death and on request of an interested person, to someone able to probate it or to an appropriate court, and a person who willfully fails to deliver it is liable for the damage (Mont. Code Ann. 72-2-536). Also ask whether the will was deposited with a district court for safekeeping during the person's life; Montana allows that under 72-2-535.

The Montana DPHHS Office of Vital Records fee schedule (effective September 21, 2024) lists a certified death certificate at $16 and an informational copy at $16. You can order online through VitalChek or VRO, by phone through VitalChek at 1-888-877-1946, by mail to Montana Vital Records, PO Box 4210, Helena, MT 59604, or in person at ANY county Clerk and Recorder's office, whichever county the death happened in. Montana death records are open: a certified copy must be issued on request of any person (Mont. Code Ann. 50-15-121(4)). Some county offices post a $7 county fee instead; ask the office before you go. Order several copies: banks, insurers, the motor vehicle division and the clerk of court may each want one.

Montana has no probate court. Every estate case is heard by the district court (Mont. Code Ann. 72-1-103(9)), and the right county is the one where the decedent was domiciled at death; for a nonresident, any county where the decedent had property (72-3-112). You file with the CLERK OF DISTRICT COURT of that county, an elected county officer. The 56 counties are grouped into 22 judicial districts, but a judicial district is never the venue: always file in the county. The Montana Judicial Branch Court Locator lists each county clerk's address and phone.

Separate property in the decedent's sole name from property that passes by contract or title. A payable-on-death or survivorship account belongs to the surviving party or beneficiary (Mont. Code Ann. 72-6-212), securities registered in beneficiary form pass to the named beneficiary (72-6-307), a transfer on death deed recorded before death passes real estate outside probate (72-6-401 to 72-6-418), and a vehicle title with a transfer-on-death beneficiary passes to that beneficiary (61-3-226). Life insurance, pensions and retirement accounts with a living beneficiary are nontestamentary under 72-6-111. What is left over is the probate estate, and that list decides your route.

Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-1101 lets a successor collect money owed to the decedent, tangible personal property and instruments such as stock or account balances by affidavit, with no court case and no filing fee, once 30 days have passed since the death, no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or granted anywhere, and the value of the probate estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000. The figure rose from $50,000 on October 1, 2023 (Ch. 453, L. 2023, SB 286). The affidavit is signed before a notary and handed to the bank or other holder; it is never filed with the court. Two limits matter: real estate in the probate estate COUNTS toward the $100,000, yet the affidavit cannot transfer it. The State Law Library publishes the Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property packet for free.

If the title names a transfer-on-death beneficiary, that person presents proof of death and identification to the Department of Justice, the county treasurer's office or an authorized agent, and a will cannot override the designation (Mont. Code Ann. 61-3-226). Without a beneficiary, a surviving spouse or other heir can file an affidavit with the department under 61-3-222 when the entire estate, INCLUDING the vehicles, less liens and encumbrances, is within the 72-3-1101 limit, nothing else needs letters, and no will leaves the vehicle to someone else. Otherwise the personal representative transfers it under 61-3-221. We could not read the motor vehicle division's own site, so ask the county treasurer which form and fee apply.

Most uncontested Montana estates use informal probate: an application to the CLERK of district court, decided without notice to other interested persons or a hearing (Mont. Code Ann. 72-1-103(24)). The clerk makes the findings and appoints once at least 120 hours have passed since the death; if the decedent was not a Montana resident, the clerk waits 30 days unless the domiciliary personal representative applies or the will directs Montana law (72-3-225(1)). The filing fee is $100 in every county under the clerks' published schedule ($70 under 25-1-201(1)(m), plus $20 under 25-1-202 and a $10 technology surcharge under 3-1-317). Formal probate before a judge is the track for a dispute about the will, the appointment or who inherits.

Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-502 sets the order: the person named in the will; a surviving spouse who is a devisee; the custodial parent of a minor decedent; other devisees; the surviving spouse; the parent of an adult decedent survived only by minor children; other heirs; the public administrator; and, 45 days after the death, any creditor. Someone with equal or higher priority can step aside in writing. Nobody under 18 may serve (72-3-501). Every applicant must also sign the fiduciary acknowledgment in 72-3-109, under penalty of perjury or before a notary; the State Law Library publishes it as the Fiduciary Statement.

Not later than 30 days after appointment the personal representative must send information of the appointment by ordinary mail or delivery to each heir and devisee whose address is reasonably available, giving the personal representative's name and address, whether bond was filed, and the court where the papers are on file (Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-603). Missing it is a breach of duty, though it does not undo the appointment. Bond is not required in an informal appointment unless the will requires it or someone with more than $5,000 at stake files a written demand (72-3-513 and 72-3-514).

This is where Montana differs from Idaho next door, where publication is optional. On appointment the personal representative SHALL publish a notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, telling creditors to present claims within four months after the first publication or be forever barred (Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-801(1)). A known creditor can also be mailed notice, and then has the later of those four months or 30 days from the mailing (72-3-801(2)). Get an EIN from the IRS and open an estate account before you start paying anything.

Within 9 months after appointment the personal representative prepares an inventory of the probate property the decedent owned at death, with each item's fair market value at the date of death and the type and amount of any encumbrance (Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-607(1)). You may either send a copy to the heirs, devisees and unpaid allowed creditors who ask for it, or file the original with the court and send copies on request (72-3-607(3)). A surviving spouse who still has the right to an elective share can demand a list of probate AND nonprobate property, which is then due within 90 days (72-3-607(6)).

A claim that arose before the death is barred unless presented within the EARLIER of one year after the death or the notice period that applies to that creditor (Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-803(1)). Wait for the window to close, set aside the homestead, family and support allowances, then pay allowed claims in the statutory order (72-3-808). If the estate cannot pay everyone, 72-3-807 pays costs and expenses of administration first, then reasonable funeral and last-illness expenses, then federal and Montana estate taxes, then child support owed under a support order, then other debts with a legal preference, then other taxes, then everything else.

Tell the Social Security Administration about the death and file the decedent's final federal and Montana income tax returns. A resident estate files the Montana Form FID-3 if it has a federal filing requirement or positive Montana taxable income (Montana Department of Revenue). Montana has no inheritance tax for any death after January 1, 2001 and no estate tax for deaths after 2004; the department no longer issues a certificate or consent to close probate. A federal Form 706 is due only for the largest estates.

In an unsupervised estate the personal representative closes by filing a verified statement, no earlier than 6 months after the original appointment, stating that the creditor window has closed, the estate has been fully administered and distributed, and a copy and a full written account went to the distributees and to any known unpaid, unbarred creditors (Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-1004). Montana also requires an accounting under oath, filed with the court or delivered to all interested persons, before the estate is finally closed, unless the personal representative is the sole residual beneficiary (72-3-1005). If no proceeding is pending one year after the closing statement, the appointment ends.

If an estate is still open two years after the personal representative was appointed, the supreme court administrator notifies the district judge, who orders the personal representative and the attorney to show cause. Without good cause the judge may order the estate closed within 30 days and may deny both of them any fee from the estate (Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-1015).

Montana's second small-estate route has no dollar figure. If the inventory and appraisal show the whole estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the SUM of the $22,500 homestead allowance, up to $15,000 of exempt property, the family allowance, costs of administration, reasonable funeral expenses and reasonable last-illness medical and hospital expenses, the personal representative may distribute without notice to creditors and close by sworn statement (Mont. Code Ann. 72-3-1103 and 72-3-1104). This route still needs an appointed personal representative. The State Law Library's How to Administer a Small Estate packet walks through it.