Mont. Code Ann. » TITLE 71. MORTGAGES, PLEDGES, AND LIENS · CHAPTER 3. LIENS · Part 5. Construction Liens
Montana Code Annotated

Mont. Code Ann. § 71-3-534 (2026)

Filing With County Clerk -- Notification Of Owner

✓ current as of May 2026
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  1. MCA Contents
  2. TITLE 71
  3. CHAPTER 3
  4. Part 5
  5. 71-3-534 Filing with county clerk -- notification of owner

TITLE 71. MORTGAGES, PLEDGES, AND LIENS

CHAPTER 3. LIENS

Part 5. Construction Liens

Filing With County Clerk -- Notification Of Owner

71-3-534. Filing with county clerk -- notification of owner. (1) The county clerk shall endorse upon every lien the day of its filing and make an abstract of the lien in a book to be kept for that purpose and properly indexed, containing the date of the filing, the name of the person holding the lien, the amount of the lien, the name of the person against whose property the lien is filed, and the description of the property to be charged with the lien.

(2) The clerk may not file the lien unless it is accompanied by a certification by the lien claimant or the claimant's agent that a copy of the lien has been served upon each owner of record of the property named in the lien. Service must be made by personal service on each owner or by mailing a copy of the lien by certified mail with return receipt requested to each owner's last-known address. The certification must state that service was made by delivery of certified mail.

History: En. Sec. 7, p. 333, Bannack Stat.; re-en. Sec. 7, p. 510, Cod. Stat. 1871; amd. Sec. 2, p. 84, L. 1874; re-en. Sec. 826, 5th Div. Rev. Stat. 1879; re-en. Sec. 1373, 5th Div. Comp. Stat. 1887; amd. Sec. 2132, C. Civ. Proc. 1895; re-en. Sec. 7292, Rev. C. 1907; re-en. Sec. 8341, R.C.M. 1921; re-en. Sec. 8341, R.C.M. 1935; R.C.M. 1947, 45-503; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 515, L. 1981; Sec. 71-3-513, MCA 1985; redes. 71-3-534 by Code Commissioner, 1987; amd. Sec. 76, Ch. 130, L. 2005.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 5 cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1999–2024 · leading case: Johnston v. Palmer, 2007 MT 99, 158 P.3d 998.
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Johnston v. Palmer, 2007 MT 99, 158 P.3d 998. · cites it 6× “Based on these findings, the District Court concluded that the lien complied with the statutory procedural requirements found in §§ 71-3-534 and 535, MCA. ¶35 The lien statutes or statutory provisions relevant to our analysis are: Section 71-3-523, MCA: A person who furnishes…”
Dick Anderson Constr., Inc. v. Monroe Prop. Co., 2011 MT 138, 255 P.3d 1257. “A “contracting owner” is a “person who owns an interest in real estate and who personally or through an agent, enters into an express or implied contract for the improvement of the real estate.”
Swain v. Battershell, 1999 MT 101, 983 P.2d 873. “A construction lien will not attach unless the lien statement contains the name of the contracting owner. Section 71-3-535(3)(c), MCA.”
Earthworks v. Waldher, 2002 MT 272N. · cites it 5× “Plaintiffs have met the requirements for their lien pursuant to Sections 71-3-534, -535 and -536, MCA, and their lien is thus valid and enforceable.”
Hunter v. Benefis Health Sys., No. 4:21-cv-00092 (D. Mont. Feb. 16, 2024). “Montana law specifically requires notice of the filing of the lien to the owner of the property to allow the owner to challenge the amount or validity of the lien.”
Mont. Code Ann. § 71-3-534(2): 4 cases
Johnston v. Palmer, 2007 MT 99, 158 P.3d 998. “Based on these findings, the District Court concluded that the lien complied with the statutory procedural requirements found in §§ 71-3-534 and 535, MCA. ¶35 The lien statutes or statutory provisions relevant to our analysis are: Section 71-3-523, MCA: A person who furnishes…”
Swain v. Battershell, 1999 MT 101, 983 P.2d 873. “A construction lien will not attach unless the lien statement contains the name of the contracting owner. Section 71-3-535(3)(c), MCA.”
Earthworks v. Waldher, 2002 MT 272N. “Plaintiffs have met the requirements for their lien pursuant to Sections 71-3-534, -535 and -536, MCA, and their lien is thus valid and enforceable.”
Hunter v. Benefis Health Sys., No. 4:21-cv-00092 (D. Mont. Feb. 16, 2024). “Montana law specifically requires notice of the filing of the lien to the owner of the property to allow the owner to challenge the amount or validity of the lien.”
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.