Estate Inventory and Appraisement Requirements in Montana
At a glance
| Governing law and administration type | Montana UPC inventory/appraisal under MCA §§ 72-3-607 and 72-3-609; special administrator and already-discharged successor exceptions; separate nonprobate/elective-share lists excluded |
|---|---|
| Who prepares, signs, and verifies | Personal representative prepares; §§ 72-3-607 and -609 prescribe no representative/appraiser signature, verification, oath, or notarization; appraiser name/address appears by item |
| Deadline, trigger, and extension | Within 9 months after appointment; no extension standard stated; special administrator excluded and successor excluded if predecessor discharged duty; supplement has no stated clock (§§ 72-3-607(1), -609) |
| Court filing or private delivery | Either send requested private copies or file original and send requested copies; written waiver delivered to PR counts as sent; supplement follows original route (§§ 72-3-607(3)-(4), -609) |
| Property scope, exclusions, and encumbrances | Probate property owned at death, in reasonable detail; FMV of decedent's interest in every item and type/amount of each encumbrance; nonprobate property belongs to separate list (§ 72-3-607) |
| Valuation date and method | Fair market value of decedent's interest in every item as of death; supplement gives new/revised item's death-date market value or revised description and supporting appraiser/data (§§ 72-3-607(1)-(2), -609) |
| Appraiser requirement and qualifications | Optional qualified disinterested appraiser for an asset whose value may be reasonably doubtful; different appraisers by asset kind; name/address with item (§ 72-3-607(2)) |
| Recipients, confidentiality, and access | Private branch: requesting heirs, devisees, allowed unsatisfied-claim creditors; filed branch: requesting interested persons; written waiver allowed; no inventory-specific confidentiality rule (§ 72-3-607(3)-(4)) |
| Correction, supplementation, and noncompliance | Later property or erroneous/misleading value/description requires supplement; filed if original filed, otherwise furnished to persons interested in new information; duty failure may support removal (§§ 72-3-609, 72-3-526) |
Requirements one by one
Nine months leads to two different copy routes
Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-607(1)-(4) gives the personal representative nine months after appointment to prepare the inventory. A special administrator is excluded, and a successor is excluded if the prior representative already discharged the duty. The section states no extension standard.
Without filing, requested copies go to heirs, devisees, and creditors whose allowed claims remain unsatisfied. The alternative is filing the original and sending copies to any interested persons who request them. A recipient may waive a copy by a written waiver delivered to the representative; the private branch then treats the copy as sent.
The ordinary inventory is limited to probate property
The inventory covers probate property the decedent owned at death, in reasonable detail. Each item shows its death-date fair market value, the value of the decedent's interest, and the type and amount of any encumbrance.
Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-607(5)-(6) separately authorizes an all-property list and requires a probate-and-nonprobate list after a timely demand by a surviving spouse with an unexpired elective-share right. Those lists identify nonprobate transferees and serve different purposes; they are not the ordinary probate-property inventory covered by this survey.
Sections 72-3-607 and 72-3-609 prescribe no representative signature, verification, oath, notarization, or appraiser certificate. They also state no inventory-specific sealing or confidentiality rule.
Appraisal is optional for doubtful values
Under § 72-3-607(2), the representative may employ a qualified and disinterested appraiser when an asset's value may be subject to reasonable doubt. Different people may appraise different kinds of assets. The inventory identifies each appraiser by name and address with the appraised item or items.
The section does not require appraisal by asset category or prescribe an appraiser oath, signature, certificate, or separate deadline.
A supplement follows the original inventory's route
Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-609 requires a supplemental inventory or appraisal when new property becomes known or an original value or description proves erroneous or misleading. It gives the new or revised item's market value as of death or revised description and the appraisers or other data relied on, if any.
If the original was filed, the supplement is filed. Otherwise, copies or information go to persons interested in the new information. Section 72-3-609 states no separate correction deadline.
Failure to perform a duty of office may support removal for cause under Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-526(2), but removal is not automatic; an interested person petitions and the court determines cause.
What trips people up
The private and filed recipient classes differ. The private branch names requesting heirs, devisees, and allowed unsatisfied-claim creditors. Filing the original opens the requested-copy duty to interested persons generally.
A written waiver is treated as delivery. The recipient signs and delivers the waiver to the representative; it is not merely silence or a failure to ask.
Do not fold the elective-share list into the probate inventory. The spouse's 90-day demand list includes probate and nonprobate property, but the ordinary inventory covers probate property and has a nine-month appointment clock.
Common questions
Must the Montana inventory be filed with the court?
No. The representative may use the private requested-copy branch instead.
Can an interested person waive the inventory copy?
Yes. Section 72-3-607(4) requires a written waiver delivered to the personal representative.
Is an appraiser mandatory for real estate?
Not by category. An optional qualified, disinterested appraiser may assist when the asset's value is reasonably doubtful.
Statutes and sources
- Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-607 — nine-month inventory, probate-property scope, death-date values, encumbrances, appraisers, copy routes, waivers, and separate all-property lists: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0060/section_0070/0720-0030-0060-0070.html (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-609 — supplement triggers, contents, and conditional filing or delivery: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0060/section_0090/0720-0030-0060-0090.html (accessed 2026-08-10).
- Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-526(2) — removal cause, including failure to perform a duty of office: https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0720/chapter_0030/part_0050/section_0260/0720-0030-0050-0260.html (accessed 2026-08-10).
Source links
Every statute quoted above, linked, with the date we checked it.
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