The rest of what we have written about Montana. Every figure is quoted from Montana’s own statute or its courts’ own published schedule, and carries the date we last checked it.
Dividing property and money in a Montana divorce
The money picture for a divorce in Montana: how property gets divided, what Montana calls spousal support and how it is decided, whether one spouse can be made to pay the other’s legal fees while the case is running, and — the part nobody publishes — whether Montana’s own income tax follows the federal rule on alimony.
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Every claim is traced to Montana’s own statute, court rule or revenue department, quoted where the wording carries the meaning. Where we could not verify something, the page says so instead of filling the space. Information, not legal advice — and tax questions in particular need a professional in your state. Corrections: thecusp.app/corrections.
Does Montana follow the federal alimony rule?
Since 2019, federal law has treated alimony as not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient, for any instrument executed after 31 December 2018. Most people assume every state followed. Most did. Not all.
Montana’s individual income tax chapter defines ‘Internal Revenue Code’ with no fixed date at all: ‘the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or as it may be labeled or further amended’ (Mont. Code Ann. § 15-30-2101(14)), and defines Montana’s starting point as federal adjusted gross income/taxable income (§ 15-30-2101(6)-(7)). This is genuine rolling conformity, so Montana automatically follows the current federal (post-TCJA) treatment of alimony — non-deductible to the payer, non-taxable to the recipient, for instruments executed after Dec. 31, 2018 — without any separate state legislative action.
So the federal answer is your answer: post-2018 instruments, no deduction and no inclusion, on either return.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 15-30-2101(6), (7), (14) · source
Conformity: rolling
Nationally: 36 states follow the federal rule, 9 have no income tax, 4 are decoupled, and 1 — Maine — we could not establish. The full fifty-state table and what each decoupled state does differently.
How property is divided
Montana is an equitable distribution state. That means the court divides marital property fairly, which is not a synonym for equally. What counts as marital rather than separate property is frequently the whole argument.
the court…shall…finally equitably apportion between the parties the property and assets belonging to either or both, however and whenever acquired
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-202(1)
Maintenance
Montana calls it maintenance. Using the state’s own word matters when you are searching for forms or reading a statute.
There is no guideline calculation. A judge weighs the statutory factors and reaches a number.
This is the norm and it is why alimony is the least predictable figure in a divorce. Two judges can reach different answers on the same facts and both be right. It also means the strength of your evidence about income, earning capacity and the standard of living during the marriage does real work.
The maintenance order must be in amounts and for periods of time that the court considers just, without regard to marital misconduct, and after considering all relevant facts
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-203
Who pays for the lawyers
The court from time to time, after considering the financial resources of both parties, may order a party to pay a reasonable amount for the cost to the other party of maintaining or defending any proceeding…and for professional fees
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 40-4-110(1)
to ensure that both parties have timely and equitable access to marital financial resources for costs incurred before, during, and after a proceeding under chapters 1 and 4
A fee award that only arrives at final judgment is close to worthless to someone who could not afford a lawyer during the case. By then it is over. An interim award is what stops a wealthier spouse winning by attrition.
If you are the lower earner, this is the single most actionable thing on this page. Ask at the first meeting, in these words: “Can we move for an interim award of attorney fees now?” Do not let “we will deal with fees at the end” pass unexamined.
Separately, if custody is contested you may be ordered to pay for a guardian ad litem or a custody evaluator, and the court decides how to split that. What that costs in Montana, and who bears it.
The thing worth knowing about Montana
Montana’s fee-shifting statute (§ 40-4-110) is unusual in explicitly stating its own purpose in subsection (2): ‘to ensure that both parties have timely and equitable access to marital financial resources for costs incurred before, during, and after a proceeding’ — one of the more direct legislative statements (rather than judicial gloss) of why interim fee-leveling exists.
What we could not verify
For Montana, we could not confirm the following from a primary source. We would rather print the gap than fill it:
- the child support model
If you practice in Montana and can point us at the right provision, tell us. Corrections are published with the date, what changed, and how long the error was live.