Updated September 11, 2026. Quick answer: In Montana, this document is called a Certificate of Existence, issued by the Secretary of State. $5.00 for a domestic LLC’s Certificate of Existence, per the Montana Secretary of State’s official ‘Business Services Filing Fees’ schedule (effective 7-1-2022), which lists the fee separately under both the corporations and the limited liability company sections.
What it’s called and who issues it
Montana calls this document a Certificate of Existence, issued by the Secretary of State.
The fee
| Standard fee | $5.00 |
| Full fee detail | $5.00 for a domestic LLC’s Certificate of Existence, per the Montana Secretary of State’s official ‘Business Services Filing Fees’ schedule (effective 7-1-2022), which lists the fee separately under both the corporations and the limited liability company sections. |
| Expedited/rush fee | Not certificate-specific, but the same schedule lists general 24-hour priority handling at $20.00 and 1-hour expedited filing at $100.00 for any document. |
| Fee confirmed | $5.00 as read from an archived capture of the state’s own fee schedule; the live page blocked automated access this session (see the sourcing note below). |
How fast you can get it
Ordered through Montana’s online business portal at biz.sosmt.gov.
What makes this state different
Montana uses ‘Certificate of Existence’ rather than ‘Good Standing’ as its document name, and at $5 ties for the cheapest flat fee among these states; the certificate itself is authorized by Mont. Code Ann. Section 35-8-216, a separate statute from the fee schedule that sets the dollar figure.
A note on sourcing: The live sosmt.gov PDF and business pages returned HTTP 403 to every automated fetch tried this session; the $5.00 fee was read from a Wayback Machine capture of that same official fee-schedule PDF instead of a live fetch, cross-checked this session with pypdf text extraction against the LLC-specific line item (not just the corporations section, which lists the same figure). The statutory citation (35-8-216) confirming the certificate itself exists and is state-authorized was read live this session.
| Fee/process source | Secretary of State |
| Also see | Montana Code Annotated Section 35-8-216 (certificate of existence or authority) |
| Confidence | Medium |
Every fee on this page was read directly from the state’s own Secretary of State (or equivalent agency) site or fee-schedule PDF this session, or, where that site blocked automated access, from an archived snapshot of the same official document or independently cross-checked legal-directory sources (disclosed below). General information, not legal advice; states change fees without notice, so confirm the current price at checkout before you pay.