Title 7, Title 7

A new county, when created and organized pursuant to this part, must be attached to the judicial district designated by the governor in a proclamation designating the new county as attached to the particular judicial district for judicial purposes.

(1) It shall be the duty of the persons elected to or continuing to hold the office of county commissioner of said new county to meet at the county seat thereof within 5 days after all of them shall have qualified, and upon organization of said board of county commissioners, it s…

(1) The commissioners provided for in 7-2-2241 shall, within 10 days after the notice of the appointment, meet at the county seat of the new county and organize by electing from their number a presiding officer and also by electing a secretary, who may not be a member of the comm…

Members of the board of commissioners provided for under 7-2-2241 shall receive a compensation of not to exceed $25 per day for every day they are actually employed under the provisions of this part. All of which expenses, together with the reasonable expenses of stationery, post…

(1) (a) Said board of commissioners shall, immediately after its organization: (i) ascertain the costs of the election held hereunder and apportion the same pro rata among each of the counties from which territory was taken to form such new county; (ii) ascertain the indebtedness…

Said board of commissioners shall certify forthwith to the board of county commissioners of the new county and the old counties thereby affected the amount constituting the due proportion of said excess payable by such new county to each of them and also the value of any property…

(1) The sum of said ascertained value of the property referred to in 7-2-2245 added to the ascertained proportion of the excess referred to in 7-2-2245 which the new county is to pay the old county and its proportion of the expense of said election, as aforesaid, shall be an inde…

Delinquent taxes due the old county against property situated in the new county shall be transcribed in and collected by the new county.

(1) After the creation of a new county, its officers shall complete all proceedings necessary for the assessment or collection of the state and county taxes for the then-current year. (2) (a) All acts and steps taken by the officers of the old county or counties prior to the crea…

(1) The county superintendent of schools of an old county shall furnish the county superintendent of schools of the new county with a certification of the average number belonging (ANB) in the different school districts in the territory set apart to form the new county and shall …

(1) The board of county commissioners of any new county must provide suitable books and have transcribed from the records of the old county or counties all such parts thereof as relate to or affect property situated in the new county or the title thereof. (2) All chattel mortgage…

(1) The files of all actions in the office of the clerk of the district court of the old county, whether reduced to judgment or pending, for the recovery of the possession of, quieting the title to, or the enforcement of liens upon real estate lying wholly in the new county or an…

(1) Any new county shall be entitled to all records, maps, plats, and charts of any old county, any part of whose territory is included in such new county, which records, maps, plats, or charts relate to the classification of lands for taxation purposes and apply exclusively to t…

(1) Any county or counties of Montana that shall be formed from portions of another county shall be entitled to have the county records affecting or relating to any and all property situated in the segregated county transcribed from the books of the original county and made a par…

Said county commissioners shall have full power and authority to contract for transcribing the records relating to all property situated within the boundaries of the segregated county, and for that purpose the person or persons engaged in the work of transcribing such records sha…

Payment for transcribing such records shall be made by the county contracting therefor and by a warrant or warrants payable out of the general fund of such county.

(1) When the transcript of the records provided for in this part are completed and approved by the county commissioners of the county, they must be delivered to the county clerk and recorder of the county from which the records were taken. It is the duty of the county clerk and r…

All records so transcribed, when certified to as being full, complete, and correct, shall be delivered to the county clerk and recorder of the segregated county, shall be filed in the office of the county clerk and recorder of such segregated county, and shall thereupon become an…

A certified copy of the records so transcribed and filed in the office of the county clerk and recorder of any segregated county may be introduced in evidence and shall have the same force and effect as certified copies of original records.

(1) In all counties created out of any other county or where the county boundary has been changed as provided in Title 7, chapter 2, part 28, and wherever there has been an action or proceeding begun affecting any real property situated within the new county or the county to whic…

(1) Except as provided in 7-2-2803(4), the clerk of the district court in which an action or proceeding was originally begun is entitled to receive, for transferring the files, papers, and certified copies of the minutes and records entered in connection with the action or procee…

Whenever a new county has been created out of territory formerly embraced in any existing county or counties of the state, the jury list for such new county for the current year and until the regular jury commission for such new county shall certify the new jury list for the succ…

(1) The clerk of the district court of the county from which a new county is segregated or, if a new county is segregated from two or more counties, the clerks of district court of each of the counties shall take the names of persons that appear upon the jury list for the year, w…

The clerk or clerks of the district court of the county or counties from which the new county has been created shall, after the creation of the new county, remove from the list of jurors and jury boxes of the clerk's county or counties the names of all persons upon the list that …

The clerk of the district court of the new county shall file and prepare the jury list and boxes in accordance with the general law pertaining to the duties of clerks of district court with relation to jury lists and boxes.

The name, designation, appellation, cognomen, or title of any county in this state may be changed to any other name, designation, appellation, cognomen, or title as provided in this part.

(1) Petitions for change of names must be heard and determined by the district court of the county whose name is sought to be changed. (2) A petition for the change of the name of any county in this state must be signed by a number of the legal voters who are taxpayers in the cou…

(1) The form of petition for any change of name of a county, as provided in this part, must be substantially as follows: In the district court of the .... judicial district of the state of Montana, in and for the county of ..... Petition for the change of thename of ............ …

(1) The county clerk of the county in which the petition provided for in 7-2-2503 must be signed shall compare the signatures of the voters signing the petition with their signatures on the registration books and blanks on file in the clerk's office for the preceding general elec…

Upon the filing of the petition, the clerk of the district court, upon the receipt of the cost from any voter in the county, shall publish a copy of the petition as provided in 7-1-2121. Proofs must be made of the publication before the petition can be considered and before a dat…

Such petition must be heard at such time as the court or judge may appoint, subject to the provisions of 7-2-2505. Objections may be filed in the office of the clerk of said court at any time before such date by any person who can, in such objections, show to the court or judge g…

(1) Immediately upon the rendition of any decree changing the name of a county as provided in this part, the clerk of the district court of said county shall transmit, by registered or certified mail, a certified copy of said decree, showing the date of its rendition, to the secr…

(1) From and after the rendition of the decree, the official records in the custody of the several county officers shall be styled and designated, as in each instance may be proper, with the new name of the county as provided by the decree. All printed blanks and forms, all print…

(1) All public records and property of the county existing under the former name shall be and become the public records and property of the county of the new name. In all conveyances, indentures, instruments, decrees of courts, and other records where the former name of the count…

(1) The change of name provided for in this part shall not impair or work a forfeiture or alteration of any vested rights. (2) All laws of a general or special nature applicable to the county under its former name shall thereafter apply with equal force and effect to the county u…

(1) All indebtedness and obligations of the county, whether bonded or otherwise, shall be assumed by and become the indebtedness of the county under its new name. All bonds issued by the county under its former name, outstanding and unpaid at the time of the rendition of the decr…

The terms of the district court in and for said county, as theretofore established by the court or a judge thereof under the former name of the county, shall become the terms of said court for the county under its new name and shall be held as stated, in and for said county under…

Persons who are, at the date of the rendition of the decree, the county, township, and district officers or officials and members of the legislature of the county under its former name shall remain in office and shall thereafter be the county, township, district, and legislative …

No change of name shall be so construed as to alter or modify the boundaries of the county as the same existed and were established under the former name of the county, but such boundaries shall be and remain the same until changed according to law.

(1) Whenever the inhabitants of any county of this state desire to remove the county seat of a county from the place where it is fixed by law or otherwise to another place, they may present a petition to the board of county commissioners of their county, praying such removal, suc…

(1) A petition for removal of a county seat must be filed with the county clerk. (2) The county clerk, immediately upon the filing of the petition, shall publish a notice as provided in 7-1-2121. The notice must state that the petition is open to inspection in the office of the c…

(1) The county election administrator shall verify signatures on the petition within 30 days of when the signed petition is filed. (2) If the county election administrator determines that the petition is signed by at least 50% of the county's electors who voted in the last genera…

(1) When the returns have been received and compared and the results ascertained by the board, if a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question have voted in favor of any particular place, the board must give notice of the results by posting notices thereof in all t…

Whenever any election has been held as provided for in this part, the statement made by the board of county commissioners showing the result thereof must be deposited in the office of the county clerk. Whenever the board gives the notice prescribed by 7-2-2606(2), they must trans…

(1) When an election has been held and a majority of the votes are not cast for some place other than that fixed by law as the existing county seat, no second election for the removal thereof may be held within 4 years thereafter. (2) When the county seat of a county has been onc…

The organization and corporate existence of any county organized under the laws of this state may be abandoned and abolished and the territory within its boundaries may be attached to and made a part of some adjoining county in the manner provided by this part.