Montana timeline
Montana probate timeline: the 30-day wait and creditor deadlines
The simplified route starts 30 days after death.
Montana creditor deadlines are set out below against the event each one runs from.
Sources reviewed August 9, 2026. Latest primary-source re-fetch October 3, 2026.
The one date this page can source
The collection of personal property by affidavit (mca § 72-3-1101) route requires 30 days to elapse from the date of death. This is a precondition: the affidavit or petition cannot be presented before it runs, regardless of how straightforward the estate is.
(a) the value of the probate estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000, except as provided in subsection (2); (b) 30 days have elapsed since the death of the decedentMont. Code Ann. § 72-3-1101 — Montana Legislature (Legislative Services Division); Montana Code Annotated 2025.
Creditor deadlines
- From publication of notice to creditors
- Within 4 months after the date of the first publication of the notice to creditors (MCA § 72-3-801(1)).
- From actual notice to a known creditor
- Within 4 months from the published notice, or within 30 days from mailing/delivery of written notice, whichever is later (MCA § 72-3-801(2)).
- Outer limit, running from death
- Within 1 year after the decedent's death, whichever is earlier (MCA § 72-3-803(1)(a)).
How these combine. Montana runs multiple independently-triggered claim deadlines that cannot honestly collapse into one number: a four-month bar from first publication of the notice to creditors (§ 72-3-801(1)); an actual-notice period of four months from published notice or 30 days from mailing, whichever is later (§ 72-3-801(2)); and an outer nonclaim bar of one year after death (§ 72-3-803(1)(a)). Publishing a single figure would mislead.
within 1 year after the decedent's death; or (b) within the time provided by 72-3-801 (2) for creditors who are given actual notice and within the time provided in 72-3-801 (1) for all creditors barred by publication.Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-803(1)(a) — Montana Legislature (Legislative Services Division); Montana Code Annotated 2025.
Montana bars most claims one year after death, and binds nonprobate transferees too
MCA § 72-3-803 is a nonclaim statute, which is a stronger thing than a limitation period: it extinguishes claims rather than merely giving a defence to them. Claims that arose before death are barred unless presented within the earlier of two dates — within one year after the decedent’s death, or within the time set by § 72-3-801(2) for creditors given actual notice and § 72-3-801(1) for creditors barred by publication.
The one-year outer limit is the shortest of the neighbouring uniform states. North Dakota’s equivalent runs three years where notice was never published and mailed, Idaho’s runs three years, and Arizona’s runs two years plus whatever remains of the notice period. A Montana estate reaches finality against unknown creditors materially sooner than an estate a state line away.
Montana also reaches further in whom it binds. The bar operates “against the estate, the personal representative, and the heirs and devisees and nonprobate transferees of the decedent.” Assets that passed outside probate — by beneficiary designation or survivorship — are covered by the same bar. Arizona’s § 14-3803 and Idaho’s § 15-3-803 list only the estate, the representative, and the heirs and devisees.
Claims arising at or after death run on their own clock: a claim based on a contract with the personal representative must be presented within four months after the representative’s performance is due, and any other such claim within the later of four months after it arises or one year after death. The section does not disturb proceedings to enforce a mortgage, pledge or other lien on estate property, nor — to the limits of the insurance only — proceedings to establish the decedent’s or representative’s liability.
Source: MCA § 72-3-803, read from the enacting state’s own published code on 2026-09-17. Quoted wording is the statute’s; the surrounding explanation is this site’s reading of it and is not legal advice.
General sequence: first week, how long probate takes.
Montana record: 4/4 verified, 12 matched checks, latest source re-fetch October 3, 2026. Source record · method · report a correction