Montana Code Annotated 2023

TITLE 82. MINERALS, OIL, AND GAS

CHAPTER 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Part 3. Trusts for Unlocatable Mineral Owners

Administration Of Trust

82-1-304. Administration of trust. (1) The administration of the trust must comply with the appropriate provisions regulating trusts contained in Title 72.

(2) Trustee or attorney fees may not be paid from the trust proceeds.

(3) All bonuses, rental payments, royalties, and other income must be paid to the trustee until the trust is terminated and notice of its termination given to all interested parties. The trustee shall distribute all money held in the trust to the person or persons entitled to the money upon the order of the district court.

(4) A trust in favor of unlocatable owners must be kept in force until the unlocatable owners of the mineral interest in question have successfully claimed their share of the funds held in trust and have filed the notice, as provided in 82-1-306.

(5) The trustee shall invest funds in a prudent manner, as provided in 72-38-902. Fifty percent of the interest earned on each trust must be credited to the department of revenue or, if the clerk of the court is the trustee, to the general fund of the county in which the mineral interest is located to defray the costs of administration.

(6) Funds held in the trusts are subject to the provisions governing abandoned property contained in Title 70, chapter 9.

History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 513, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 219, Ch. 685, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 126, L. 1997; amd. Sec. 159, Ch. 264, L. 2013.