Mont. Code Ann. » TITLE 71. MORTGAGES, PLEDGES, AND LIENS · CHAPTER 1. MORTGAGES · Part 3. Small Tract Financing
Montana Code Annotated

Mont. Code Ann. § 71-1-306 (2026)

Qualifications Of Trustee -- Successor Trustee

✓ current as of May 2026
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  1. MCA Contents
  2. TITLE 71
  3. CHAPTER 1
  4. Part 3
  5. 71-1-306 Qualifications of trustee -- successor trustee

TITLE 71. MORTGAGES, PLEDGES, AND LIENS

CHAPTER 1. MORTGAGES

Part 3. Small Tract Financing

Qualifications Of Trustee -- Successor Trustee

71-1-306. Qualifications of trustee -- successor trustee. (1) The trustee of a trust indenture under this part must be:

(a) an attorney who is licensed to practice law in Montana;

(b) a bank, trust company, or savings and loan association authorized to do business in Montana under the laws of Montana or the United States; or

(c) a title insurer or title insurance producer or agency authorized to do business in Montana under the laws of Montana.

(2) The beneficiary may appoint a successor trustee at any time by filing for record, in the office of the clerk and recorder of each county in which the trust property or some part of the trust property is situated, a substitution of trustee. The substitution must identify the trust indenture by stating the names of the original parties to the trust indenture and the date of recordation and the book and page where the information is recorded, must state the name and mailing address of the new trustee, and must be executed and acknowledged by all of the beneficiaries designated in the trust indenture or their successors in interest. From the time the substitution is filed for record, the new trustee is vested with all the power, duties, authority, and title of the trustee named in the trust indenture and of any successor trustee.

History: En. Sec. 5, Ch. 177, L. 1963; R.C.M. 1947, 52-405; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 33, L. 1987; amd. Sec. 91, Ch. 51, L. 1999.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 6 cases (2 in the last 5 years), 2011–2023 · leading case: Pilgeram v. Greenpoint Mortg. Funding, Inc., 2013 MT 354 (Mont. 2013).
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Pilgeram v. Greenpoint Mortg. Funding, Inc., 2013 MT 354 (Mont. 2013). · cites it 8× “LEXIS 97869 at * 35 (“No ‘contrary intention clearly appears’ in the STFA that would preclude the lender from designating an agent to act on the lender’s behalf to exercise all pertinent authority of a beneficiary under the trust indenture.”
Jacobson v. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC, 2016 MT 101 (Mont. 2016). · cites it 12× “court found that Bayview was in violation of the FDCPA for the following reasons: it engaged in FDCPA collection activity; it told the Jacobsons to stop making payments and then commenced foreclosure; it informed the Jacobsons it could not reinstate their loan within 5 days…”
Puryer v. HSBC Bank USA, Nat'l Ass'n, 419 P.3d 105 (Mont. 2018). · cites it 6× “In particular, the Jacobsons alleged the loan servicer violated provisions of the Trust Indenture § 22(c) and § 71-1-306(2), MCA. Jacobson , ¶¶ 5, 6, 49 .”
Pennell v. Nationstar, 2022 MT 235 (Mont. 2022). · cites it 2× “On March 30, 2016, Nationstar appointed First American Title Company of Montana (First American) as the Successor Trustee pursuant to § 71-1-306, MCA. After the Pennells defaulted on their financial obligations under the Deed of Trust, First American began foreclosure 3…”
Lauf v. Selene Fin., L.P. (D. Mont. 2023). · cites it 4× “Lauf claimed that EverBank and its servicers had illegally changed the locks on the Property, falsely threatened him with a deficiency judgment, and failed to follow contractual requirements in the Deed of Trust and statutory requirements in the Financing Act, Montana Code…”
Diehl ex rel. Terry v. Nw. Tr. Servs. Inc., 420 F. App'x 716 (9th Cir. 2011). “See Mont. Code Ann. §§ 71-1-306 ; 28-10-105. Because Montana law is clear on the legal questions in this appeal, we deny the motion to certify the question to the state supreme court.”
Mont. Code Ann. § 71-1-306(2): 3 cases
Jacobson v. Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC, 2016 MT 101 (Mont. 2016). “court found that Bayview was in violation of the FDCPA for the following reasons: it engaged in FDCPA collection activity; it told the Jacobsons to stop making payments and then commenced foreclosure; it informed the Jacobsons it could not reinstate their loan within 5 days…”
Puryer v. HSBC Bank USA, Nat'l Ass'n, 419 P.3d 105 (Mont. 2018). “In particular, the Jacobsons alleged the loan servicer violated provisions of the Trust Indenture § 22(c) and § 71-1-306(2), MCA. Jacobson , ¶¶ 5, 6, 49 .”
Lauf v. Selene Fin., L.P. (D. Mont. 2023). “Lauf claimed that EverBank and its servicers had illegally changed the locks on the Property, falsely threatened him with a deficiency judgment, and failed to follow contractual requirements in the Deed of Trust and statutory requirements in the Financing Act, Montana Code…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.