Clear Money Guide
What this state guide covers
A quick view of the questions, practical details and source notes below.
Updated August 4, 2026. Quick answer for Montana: nobody publishes a reliable, state-specific median for what a will costs here, and the figures you will see quoted — including ours — are national. Anyone showing you a precise Montana number is estimating. What is genuinely Montana-specific, and what actually decides whether your will works, is how it has to be executed. The detail worth knowing before you sign anything: what is genuinely Montana-specific is how a will has to be executed, and that is what decides whether the document works at all.
Putting a loan in writing? The interest limit, the signing rules and the time limit to sue, from the state’s own statutes: Montana promissory note.
How to make a will in Montana: what the statute says
Each line is a short extract quoted from the Montana statute itself; the section has the exceptions.
- Signing and witnesses. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-522(1): “…signed by at least two individuals…”
- Interested witnesses. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-525(2): “…does not invalidate the will or any provision of it…”
- Self-proving affidavit. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-524(1): “A will may be simultaneously executed, attested, and made self-proved…”
- Handwritten (holographic) will. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-522(2): “A will that does not comply with subsection (1) is valid as a holographic will, whether or not witnessed, if the signature and material portions of the document are in the testator’s handwriting.”
The cost of settling an estate is a separate question: Montana Probate Cost 2026.
The honest position on Montana pricing
We publish a national attorney median for a simple will of $625 (middle 50% $450–$1,000) and a DIY platform range of $129–$599. Attorney figures are the national medians from the LegalTemplates 2026 survey of 909 firms, verified July 23, 2026. They are national, not state-specific. Geographic multipliers are widely republished, but the primary source for them blocks automated verification, so we will not apply one to Montana and present the result as a Montana figure. When a defensible state-level dataset exists, this page will carry it and say where it came from.
What Montana law actually requires
This is the part that is genuinely state-specific, and the part that decides whether the document works at all. Every line below is read from the statute, with the citation attached:
- Witnesses: 2. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-522(1)(c)
- If a beneficiary witnesses it: the witness is competent and the gift is unaffected — unusual, and worth knowing. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-525(2)
- Notary required for the will to be valid: no. A notary is not what makes a will valid here — the witnesses are. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-522(1)(c)
- Self-proving affidavit: available. Signing one at the same time as the will is what saves your executor from tracking witnesses down years later. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-524(1)
- Handwritten (holographic) wills: recognised. Valid whether or not witnessed if the signature and material provisions are in the testator’s handwriting. Mont. Code Ann. § 72-2-522(2)
- Electronic wills: not recognised. Mont. Code Ann. tit. 72 ch. 2 pt. 5 (§§ 72-2-521 to 72-2-537) – no electronic-will provision
The full 44-jurisdiction comparison is on what each state requires for a will to be valid. Whether a beneficiary may witness is covered nationally on can a beneficiary witness a will, and the notary question on does a will need to be notarised.
Does Montana give you a free form?
No. We found no complete statutory will form in the Montana code. California, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico and Wisconsin each print one in their own codes. In Montana your realistic routes are a DIY platform, a flat-fee attorney will, or an hourly engagement if the estate is complicated.
If a DIY will is the right route for you in Montana
Where the estate is straightforward and none of the complications above apply, a properly executed DIY will does the job, and how it is signed matters far more than where the document came from. LawDepot builds a state-specific last will and testament, which you then sign and witness under the Montana rules above.
LawDepot pays us a commission if you buy through this link — it costs you nothing extra. We are not a law firm and this is not legal advice. Affiliate Disclosure.
What skipping it costs in Montana
Montana sets probate compensation using “reasonable” compensation with no percentage schedule. The two numbers that decide what an estate actually pays are the fee basis and the small-estate threshold.
Fee basis: Reasonable compensation (MCA §72-3-631). Montana’s former percentage cap (3% of first $40,000, 2% above) was removed by 2019 legislation; no percentage schedule today.
Small-estate threshold: $100,000 value of the probate estate, less liens and encumbrances (Mont. Code Ann. § 72-3-1101).
A will does not avoid probate — it directs it. What it prevents is the estate being distributed by Montana’s intestacy statute instead of by you, and it lets you name the executor rather than leaving the court to appoint one. The arithmetic on the other side is on what probate costs in Montana.
What a will costs nationally — every route priced, and the four situations where DIY fails.
Statutory text read at the state’s own legislature or official code site. Pricing figures are national and dated above. General information, not legal advice.
Related: whether Montana requires the executor to post a bond.
The court’s own filing fee to open probate is a separate cost from what’s on this page, see the Montana probate filing fee.
Related: how long creditors have to file a claim against an estate in Montana.