Montana Small Estate Affidavit

The affidavit: section 72-3-1101

Thirty days after death, a person indebted to the decedent or holding tangible personal property or an instrument evidencing a debt, obligation, stock, or chose in action shall pay or deliver to a person claiming to be the successor, on presentation of an affidavit made by or on behalf of the successor stating four matters: the value of the probate estate, wherever located, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000, except as provided in subsection (2); 30 days have elapsed since death; no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted in any jurisdiction; and the claiming successor is entitled to payment or delivery. A transfer agent of any security shall change registered ownership on presentation of an affidavit as in subsection (1).

The wording "probate estate" is itself part of the 2023 amendment, as explained below. Do not carry "entire estate" into section 1101(1)(a) from the introduced version, from section 1103, or from any secondary. Do not carry "probate estate" into subsection (2) or into section 1103. State each section's own wording and never harmonize them. "Does not exceed" includes the figure itself. An estate at $100,000 qualifies. Never state the test as "less than $100,000." Only liens and encumbrances are deducted in the value test. Debts are not deducted, and no valuation date and no gross-versus-net gloss beyond the section text is stated, because no valuation gloss was opened in any section text read.

Subsection (2) is a narrow fork. The Department of Revenue may refund unclaimed property to a successor under Title 70, chapter 9, part 8, if the unclaimed property is $5,000 or less regardless of the value of the estate. Subsection (2) still reads "the value of the estate," not "probate estate," and it retains "$5,000 or less." State only the statutory fork. The Title 70 procedure was not opened, and no procedure is stated here.

Statute silence is stated as silence. Sections 1101 to 1104 state no notarization requirement, no death-certificate presentation, no court filing, no fee, and no bond. A sworn or notarized signature and death-certificate presentation are form or holder practice only, in their own lanes, and are not stated here as statutory requirements.

The 2023 amendment: figure and noun both changed

Chapter 453, Laws 2023, is Senate Bill 286, "Revise probate law regarding collection of personal property by affidavit," introduced by Senator Fitzpatrick. Its enrolled title states that it increases the value of probate estates capable of collection of personal property by affidavit to $100,000 and amends section 72-3-1101, Montana Code Annotated. The act has one operative section, creates no new section, repeals nothing, and does not touch sections 1102, 1103, or 1104. Its status history records signature by the Governor on May 8, 2023, and chapter number assignment on May 9, 2023. The Bill Explorer summary gives an effective date of October 1, 2023. The enrolled act text itself contains no effective-date or applicability section or clause. The October 1, 2023 date is therefore stated here only as a Bill Explorer summary date, and no applicability or retroactivity rule is asserted. Death-date applicability before October 1, 2023 stays unasserted.

The amendment is not figure-only, and a build asserting a figure-only diff would misstate the enrolled act. Strike and underline markup appears in subsection (1)(a) only, with two changes: "$50,000" struck and "$100,000" inserted, and "entire" struck and "probate" inserted. The clean amended text reads "the value of the probate estate." Subsections (1)(b) to (d), (2), and (3) are reprinted in full with no markup and no wording change.

Every pre-2023 surface still stating $50,000 is stale: the older republication whose history ends in 2013, the 2014 federal summary, the 2010 courts self-help packet, and packet forms. Unanimity among stale surfaces is never corroboration. One 2024 secondary swaps the figures, stating a $50,000 affidavit and a $100,000 summary administration. That secondary is wrong in both lanes: the affidavit is $100,000, and summary administration has no flat cap.

Effect: section 72-3-1102

A payer, deliverer, transferor, or issuer is discharged and released as if dealing with a personal representative, and is not required to see to the application of the property or to inquire into the truth of any affidavit statement. On refusal, the property may be recovered, or its payment, delivery, transfer, or issuance compelled, on proof of right in a proceeding brought by or on behalf of the persons entitled. The recipient is answerable and accountable for the property to any personal representative of the estate or any other person having a superior right. No damages multiple and no fee-shifting are stated in section 1102. Recovery and compulsion only are stated here.

Summary administration: sections 72-3-1103 and 1104, a different track

Section 1103 states its own value test in its own words. If it appears from the inventory and appraisal that the value of the entire estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the sum of the homestead allowance, exempt property, family allowance, costs and expenses of administration, reasonable funeral expenses, and reasonable and necessary medical and hospital expenses of the last illness, the personal representative, without giving notice to the creditors, may immediately disburse and distribute and file a closing statement under section 1104. No flat dollar cap applies. Never state a $100,000 summary-administration cap.

No allowance dollar figure is stated in this guide. The allowance sections were not read in current text, and the figures found in secondaries and search-inspected sources were not carried. A family-allowance dollar figure found in an extension guide appears in no statute text read and is never carried. The successor definition, the current courts affidavit packet, the department form, the motor vehicle division vehicle-transfer procedure, and the Title 70 unclaimed-property procedure were all unopened or read only in search-inspected form, and no form name, fee, vehicle step, or successor definition is stated here. The verbatim quirk in the section 1102 crawl, reading "any person representative" in subsection (3), is recorded as read and is not quoted as clean text.

Section 1104 closes by sworn statement. Unless court-prohibited, and except for supervised personal representative estates, the personal representative may close a section 1103 estate by filing a verified statement at any time after disbursement and distribution, stating a best-knowledge statement that the section 1103 test was met in the same list, full administration by payment of estate taxes plus disbursement and distribution to the entitled persons, and that a copy of the closing statement was sent to all distributees plus all creditors and claimants of whom the personal representative is aware whose claims are neither paid nor barred, with a full written account to affected distributees. If no proceeding involving the personal representative is pending one year after filing, the appointment terminates. A section 1104 closing statement has the same effect as a closing statement under section 72-3-1004.

For small-estate procedures in other states, see the Small Estate Affidavits by State directory. For the questions each state's procedure answers, see Small Estate Affidavit Questions.

Source

Sources: Montana Code Annotated 2025, sections 72-3-1101 to 72-3-1104, archive texts read in full; 2023 Chapter 453, Senate Bill 286, enrolled text read via the Montana Legislature Bill Explorer, with the 2025 Code text as corroboration. Facts verified 2026-10-31, with the Chapter 453 enrolled text read 2026-11-02. Open flags: (1) current texts of sections 72-2-412, 72-2-413, and 72-2-414 were not opened, so no allowance dollar figure is stated; (2) the successor definition in section 72-1-103 was not opened; (3) the current Montana Courts affidavit packet and the department form were not opened in full; (4) the motor vehicle division deceased-owner page and forms were not opened; (5) Title 70, chapter 9, part 8 was not opened; (6) the act states no applicability clause, so no pre-October 2023 death-date rule is asserted; (7) all Part 11 history lines owe a re-read at a later build.

This page explains how the process works and what the official rules say. It is general information, not legal advice. For a dispute about your specific situation, talk to the Montana court or a lawyer.