MCA 72-3-1005(1) requires an accounting under oath showing the amount of money received and expended, the amount of all claims presented against the estate and the names of the claimants, and all other matters necessary to show the state of the estate’s affairs. It may either be filed with the court or delivered to all interested persons; the statute allows both, and this document is prepared to serve either route. Montana prescribes no columns or headings for it, so the presentation below is this product’s own. A sale posts once, at the amount collected, because Montana names no gain or loss to compute.

Under MCA 72-3-1005(3), no accounting at all is required if the personal representative is the sole residual beneficiary of the estate. Under MCA 72-3-1005(2), any interested person may, for good cause shown, require further accountings at any time during administration.

CASH ON HAND AT THE CLOSE OF THIS ACCOUNT: $387,135.87

The cash on hand at the opening, plus the receipts, less the disbursements.

MCA 72-3-801(1): the personal representative shall publish a notice once a week for three successive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation in the county, announcing the appointment and address and notifying creditors to present their claims within four months after the date of first publication or be forever barred.

Date of first publication:

MCA 72-3-801(2): the personal representative may also give a creditor written notice by mail or other delivery. A creditor given written notice is barred at the LATER of four months from the published notice under (1), or thirty days from the mailing or other delivery of the written notice, whichever is later. It is never whichever is first. Written notice is the personal representative’s option, not a duty; MCA 72-3-801(3) removes liability to any creditor or successor for giving or failing to give it, either way.

courts.mt.gov’s own probate guidance also tells a personal representative to give interested persons a copy of an account, including fiduciary and attorney fees charged to the estate, within two years of appointment, unless waived by the interested person. No MCA section carrying that duty could be found in 72-3-1005, 72-3-610, 72-3-604 or elsewhere in Part 6, so it is stated here as the courts’ own guidance, not as a statute. Confirm the current practice with your own district.