How to Complete and Sign a Montana Last Will and Testament Form

The Montana Last Will and Testament form is a free template from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services that lets you name beneficiaries, appoint a personal representative, and designate a guardian for minor children. You download it through the DPHHS Legal Service Developer Program, and the Montana Judicial Branch website links to it directly.¹ The form itself is only part of the job: what makes the document legally binding is how you fill it in and how you sign it.

To make a will in Montana you must be at least 18 and of sound mind, meaning you understand what you own, who your family and beneficiaries are, and what the document does.² You do not have to hire an attorney. If you want one, the State Bar of Montana runs a lawyer referral service at (406) 449-6577.

Gather Your Information First

Missing or vague details are the most common reason a homemade will causes trouble during probate. Before you open the form, put together:

Your full legal name plus any other names you use, including nicknames, former legal names, and a maiden name. The DPHHS instructions ask for these specifically.³
Full legal names and relationships for every beneficiary — every person or organization you want to leave something to.
Clear descriptions of the property. Use addresses or legal descriptions for real estate, institution names and account types for bank and investment accounts, and enough detail on personal items that no one can confuse one thing for another.
The name of your personal representative and at least one alternate. This is the person, bank, or corporation that will inventory your property, notify heirs, collect debts owed to you, pay your debts and taxes, and distribute what remains. The form has a field for how you know each person (sibling, child, friend), so decide that in advance.⁴³
A guardian and alternate for any children under 18. If you have no minor children, that section of the form can be deleted.³
The separate Tangible Personal Property List that DPHHS publishes alongside the will. Download both at once. The list lets you assign specific physical items to specific people without amending the will itself.³

Filling Out the Form Section by Section

The DPHHS template is a straightforward fill-in document, but it does not contain trust provisions. If you need a trust for a child with a disability, for minor children’s inheritances, or for any other special situation, you will likely need an attorney-drafted document.³ For a simple estate, work through these sections in order:

Section I (Introduction): your full legal name and every alternate name.
Section IV (Pre-Residuary Gifts): specific bequests to named individuals. If you have no children, or you do not want them to inherit under this section, change the default language to match your wishes.
Residuary clause: this covers whatever is left after the specific gifts. If you split the residue among multiple beneficiaries, the percentages must add to exactly one hundred.
Section VII (Personal Representative): your chosen representative and alternates, with how you know each.
Section IX (Guardian): the guardian for any minor children.
Section XIII (Dates and Pages): update the date and the total page count before you sign.

Should You Waive the Bond

Montana does not automatically require a bond for a personal representative in informal probate, but in formal proceedings a court can order one. A clause in the will that expressly relieves your representative of bond prevents the court from imposing one unless a beneficiary petitions and shows the estate is at risk.⁵ Bonds cost the estate money, so waiving one when you trust the person keeps administration expenses down.

Signing the Will

Montana requires three things for a valid witnessed will:⁶

The will is in writing.
You sign it, or direct another person to sign your name in your conscious presence.
At least two witnesses each sign within a reasonable time after watching you sign or hearing you acknowledge your signature.

Pick witnesses who are not beneficiaries. Montana does not invalidate a will just because a witness stands to inherit, but a disinterested witness eliminates a potential challenge before it starts. The signing does not have to happen at a lawyer’s office. A kitchen table works, so long as you and both witnesses are together for it.

Making the Will Self-Proving

A self-proving affidavit lets the probate court accept your will without tracking down your witnesses after you die. You, both witnesses, and an officer authorized to administer oaths (usually a notary public) all sign a sworn statement confirming that the will was executed voluntarily and that you appeared to be of sound mind.⁷ You can do it when you sign the will or any time afterward.

The notary applies an official seal to the affidavit. Montana caps notary fees at $10 per notarial act, so the cost is minimal.⁸ Montana also authorizes remote online notarization, where the notary confirms identity and administers the oath by audio-visual technology.⁹ Whether remote notarization satisfies the witness-presence requirement for the underlying will signing is a separate question, and having everyone physically together is the safer choice for the signing ceremony itself.

Skipping the self-proving step does not invalidate your will, but it slows and expenses probate. It is the single easiest thing you can do to protect the estate plan you just built.

Handwritten Wills as a Fallback

Montana recognizes holographic wills — handwritten documents that do not meet the standard witnessed-will requirements. A holographic will is valid if your signature and the material portions of the document are in your own handwriting.⁶ No witnesses are needed. Material portions are the parts identifying beneficiaries and what they receive.

Handwritten wills are better than nothing, but they invite challenges: handwriting is not always legible, and without witnesses or a self-proving affidavit, anyone who objects has an easier path. If you have time to complete the DPHHS form and gather two witnesses, do that instead.

Storing the Signed Will

Montana does not require you to file a will while you are alive, but state law lets you deposit the original with any district court for safekeeping. The court seals it and keeps it confidential, and during your lifetime only you or someone you authorize in writing can retrieve it.¹⁰ Your local district court clerk can tell you the filing fee.

If you keep the original at home, use a fireproof safe or lockbox and tell your personal representative exactly where it is. If you use a bank safe deposit box, confirm your representative will have legal authority to open it after your death. Otherwise the will sits locked away while your estate is administered under intestacy.

Changing or Revoking the Will Later

You can revoke a Montana will two ways:¹¹

Execute a new will. A later will revokes an earlier one if it says so or if the two documents are inconsistent. If the new will disposes of your entire estate, Montana presumes it replaces the old one. If it covers only part, the new document is treated as a supplement and both wills operate together except where they conflict.
Destroy the document. Burning, tearing, canceling, obliterating, or destroying the will counts as revocation if you did it with intent to revoke. Someone else can do it for you, but only in your conscious presence and at your direction.

A common misconception is that divorce automatically revokes an entire will. It does not. Montana law provides that a change of circumstances alone does not revoke a will, though separate statutes govern how divorce affects gifts to a former spouse.¹² After any major life event — marriage, divorce, a new child, or the death of a beneficiary — execute a new will rather than assume the law will sort it out.

Assets Your Will Won’t Control

Not everything you own passes through the will. Several common asset types transfer directly to a named beneficiary or surviving co-owner no matter what the will says:

Bank accounts or real estate titled as joint tenancy with right of survivorship pass automatically to the surviving owner.
IRAs, 401(k)s, and life insurance policies go to whoever is listed on the beneficiary designation form.
Brokerage and bank accounts with transfer-on-death or payable-on-death designations transfer to the named person.
Property held in a living trust passes according to the trust’s terms.

Trying to redirect these assets in the will does not work. If your 401(k) still names an ex-spouse, the ex-spouse gets the money even if your will leaves everything to your children. Review beneficiary designations on every account whenever you update the will.

What Happens If You Never Sign One

Without a valid will, Montana’s intestacy statute controls who inherits.¹³ Your property passes to your spouse, children, or both, with the exact shares depending on whether either spouse has children from a prior relationship, whether your parents survive you, and the overall size of the estate. The law treats all property the same. There are no special provisions for heirlooms, a family business, or sentimental items, and if heirs cannot agree, the court may order property sold to split the cash. If no relatives survive, the estate goes to the State of Montana.⁴

1
Montana Judicial Branch. Wills – Trusts – Powers of Attorney – Estate Planning – Probate
2
Montana Code Annotated. Montana Code 72-2-521 – Who May Make a Will
3
Montana DPHHS. Sample Legal Forms
4
State Bar of Montana. Wills and Probate
5
Montana State Legislature. Montana Code 72-3-513 – Bond – When Required
6
Montana Code Annotated. Montana Code 72-2-522 – Execution – Witnessed Wills – Holographic Wills
7
Montana Code Annotated. Montana Code 72-2-524 – Self-Proved Will
8
Montana Code Annotated. Montana Code 1-5-626 – Fees for Notarial Acts – Collection of Fees
9
Montana Code Annotated. Montana Code 1-5-603 – Requirements for Certain Notarial Acts
10
Montana State Legislature. Montana Code 72-2-535 – Deposit of Will With Court in Testator’s Lifetime
11
Montana Code Annotated. Montana Code 72-2-527 – Revocation by Writing or Act
12
Montana State Legislature. Montana Code 72-2-528 – Revocation by Change of Circumstances
13
Montana Code Annotated. Montana Code 72-2-111 – Intestate Estate