4 deadlines NoticeGuard models for Montana: what each one counts from, the statute it was read from, and the statute text.
Information, not legal advice. This app reports what the statute says and cites the section it read. It is not legal advice, it does not file anything for you, and it does not tell you what to do.
Verify with the statute or an attorney. Statutes change, and courts reinterpret them. Every deadline in this app comes from a statute read on the date shown next to its citation - that snapshot can go out of date. Missing a mechanics lien deadline can extinguish your claim permanently, so confirm any deadline you are relying on with an attorney licensed in that state before you act on it.
Data verified: statute text retrieved 2026-09-21 (each citation below carries its own date). Rule data from the NoticeGuard app, source commit 22f9300.
Sent to the contracting owner by certified mail or delivered personally, counted from the date services or materials were first furnished - required of everyone except an original contractor dealing directly with the owner.
What it counts from. 20 days after first furnishing (commenced work).
Applies to. Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
Mont. Code Ann. § 71-3-531 (3) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“Except as provided in subsection (4), the notice may not be given later than 20 days after the date on which the services or materials are first furnished to the contracting owner. If notice is not given within this period, a lien is enforceable only for the services or materials furnished within the 20-day period before the date on which notice is given.”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). § 71-3-531(5): "A person may not claim a construction lien unless the person has complied with this subsection" - and (2): notice is required "in order to claim a lien" at all.
Also stated next to this deadline.
Late notice does not necessarily forfeit the lien entirely - it is then only enforceable for services/materials furnished within the 20 days immediately before the (late) notice was given.
Notice by certified mail is effective on the date mailed; personal delivery requires a written acknowledgment of receipt from the owner.
File lien (no notice of completion filed)
Filed with the county clerk and recorder, counted from this claimant's own final furnishing of services or materials - used when the owner has not filed a notice of completion.
What it counts from. 90 days after last furnishing (last day on site).
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service (when no date is entered for notice of completion filed).
Mont. Code Ann. § 71-3-535 (1)(a) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“A person's lien does not attach and may not be enforced unless, after entering into the contract under which the lien arises, the person has filed a lien not later than 90 days after: (a) the person's final furnishing of services or materials; or (b) the owner files a notice of completion pursuant to 71-3-533.”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). The statute's own mechanism: the lien "does not attach and may not be enforced unless" filed within this period.
Also stated next to this deadline.
The lien statement must state: the claimant's name and address; a property description sufficient to identify it; the name of the contracting owner; the name and address of the party the claimant contracted with; a description of the services/materials provided; the amount unpaid (or a good-faith estimate, labeled as such); the dates services/materials were first and last furnished; and a declaration that notice of the right to claim a lien was given, or why it wasn't required.
The lien must also be certified to the county clerk and recorder as served on the owner of record.
File lien (notice of completion filed)
Filed with the county clerk and recorder, counted from the date the owner filed a notice of completion.
What it counts from. 90 days after notice of completion filed.
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service (when a date is entered for notice of completion filed).
Mont. Code Ann. § 71-3-535 (1)(b) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“A person's lien does not attach and may not be enforced unless, after entering into the contract under which the lien arises, the person has filed a lien not later than 90 days after: (a) the person's final furnishing of services or materials; or (b) the owner files a notice of completion pursuant to 71-3-533.”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). The statute's own mechanism: the lien "does not attach and may not be enforced unless" filed within this period.
Also stated next to this deadline.
Same content and certification requirements as the sibling rule above.
Commence action to enforce the lien
Counted from the date the lien was filed.
What it counts from. 730 days after notice of construction lien recorded.
Applies to. Original contractor, Subcontractor, Supplier, Preconstruction service.
Mont. Code Ann. § 71-3-562 (sole operative sentence) Official source · statute text retrieved 2026-09-21
“All actions under this part must be commenced within 2 years from the date of the filing of the lien.”
If the date is missed (the statute's own terms). The statute's own operative language: an action "must be commenced within" this period.
Also stated next to this deadline.
Approximated as 730 calendar days (2 years), the same approximation style used throughout this app.
Weekend and holiday rollover
NoticeGuard does not model a weekend or holiday extension for Montana. The dates above are the plain count from the date you enter. Check whether a Saturday, Sunday or holiday changes your date.
What this rule set does not cover
The notice of right to claim a lien (§ 71-3-531) does not apply at all to a dwelling for five or more families or to a partly-or-wholly-commercial improvement (§ 71-3-531(1)(c)-(d)) - not modeled; this app always shows the deadline below for the roles it applies to.
The alternate 45-day notice period (§ 71-3-531(4), for projects financed by a regulated lender secured against the specific improvement, excluding owner-occupied residences) is not modeled - a data-dependent alternate this app does not otherwise collect a financing fact for. This app always shows the default 20-day period.
A second, chained deadline is not modeled: within 5 business days of giving the notice of right to claim a lien to the owner, a copy must also be filed with the county clerk and recorder (§ 71-3-531(6)(a)). Its anchor is the date notice was actually given to the owner - a fact this app does not separately collect (it only computes when that notice is DUE, not when it was actually sent).
The notice-of-right-to-claim-lien's own 1-year filed-copy expiration and continuation mechanism (§ 71-3-531(6)(c)-(d)) is not modeled.
Weekend/holiday rollover is NOT modeled - no general Montana computation-of-time statute was researched this pass.
Only §§ 71-3-531 and 71-3-535, and 71-3-562 have been read. The rest of Part 5 - including lien priority (§§ 71-3-541, 71-3-542) and the bond-substitution mechanism (§§ 71-3-551 through 71-3-553) - has not been incorporated.
NoticeGuard is an app that turns a job's dates into a countdown for each statutory step, shows the statute text each date was read from, exports a calendar file (.ics) and sends reminders 14, 7 and 1 day before each deadline. It tracks and reminds; it does not file anything for you.