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Foreclosure in Montana

Under a Montana trust indenture, the trustee can sell your home without a lawsuit. The notice of sale must be mailed to you at least 120 days ahead, and you can catch up any time before the sale.

Type: Mostly non-judicial

Last checked October 26, 2026. Sources are listed at the bottom of this page.

Type
Mostly non-judicial. HUD lists Montana's method as a trust indenture foreclosed without a court case. The lender can choose to go to court instead.
FHA time frame
HUD's time frame for FHA loans: 9 months from the first legal action to clear title and possession.
Notice of sale
Recorded with the county, and mailed to you at least 120 days before the sale.
After the sale
After a trustee's sale, the lender can't sue you for the shortfall, and there's no right of redemption.

How a Montana foreclosure works, step by step

  1. Generally, the legal foreclosure process can't start until you're at least 120 days behind.
  2. The trustee or the lender records a notice of sale with the county clerk and recorder. It names the default, the amount owed, and the choice to sell the home to pay the debt. The sale date must be at least 120 days after the notice is recorded.
  3. At least 120 days before the sale, a copy of the recorded notice must be sent to you by certified mail.
  4. At least 20 days before the sale, a copy is posted in a place on the home where it can easily be seen. The notice is also printed in a local newspaper once a week for 3 weeks in a row, with the last one at least 20 days before the sale.
  5. On the date in the notice, the trustee sells the home at a public auction to the highest bidder. The sale happens between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
  6. The trustee's deed gives the buyer your title with no right of redemption.
  7. The buyer gets the right to possession on the 10th day after the sale. Anyone still living there after that, under a right that didn't come before the trust indenture, is treated as a tenant at will.

Catching up before the sale

You can cure the default any time before the time set for the trustee's sale. You pay what's actually past due, plus costs and reasonable trustee and attorney fees, but not the part of the loan that would not yet be due without the default.

Once you pay, the foreclosure must be canceled, and the loan goes on as if it had never been called due.

  • If you reinstate before the sale, trustee and attorney fees charged to you can't be more than $1,000 or 1% of what was due when you defaulted, whichever is less.
  • In a foreclosure that goes to a trustee's sale, those fees together can't be more than 5% of the principal and interest due at the time of the sale.
  • You can't be charged trustee or attorney fees for work done before the foreclosure started.

Ask for a written reinstatement figure early. The number can grow as the sale gets closer.

Working it out with your servicer

Under the Montana Mortgage Act, when you fall behind, a mortgage servicer must act in good faith to tell you the facts about your loan and how far behind you are. If you reply, the servicer must negotiate with you to try to reach a workout, within the limits of its servicing contract.

Under federal rules, if your servicer gets your complete application for help more than 37 days before a sale, it must review it.

The trustee's sale

Montana's trust indenture law covers property of up to 40 acres. The trustee must be a Montana-licensed attorney, a bank, trust company or savings and loan, or a title insurer or title agency.

The sale is held at the county courthouse, at the home itself, or at the trustee's place of business in the county. Anyone except the trustee can bid, including the lender. The buyer pays cash and gets a trustee's deed.

The trustee can put off the sale for up to 15 days by announcing it at the time and place of the sale. If a bankruptcy stay or a court order stops the sale, each delay can be up to 30 days, and all of them together can't go past 120 days.

How long it takes

Foreclosure generally can't legally start until you're at least 120 days behind. Once it starts, how long you have until the sale depends on your state.

For FHA loans, HUD's time frame runs from the first legal action until the lender has clear title to the home and possession of it. In Montana, that's 9 months, and the first legal action is recording the notice of sale.

Without a lawsuit, the notice of sale sets the pace: the sale can't be sooner than 120 days after the notice is recorded, and the posting and the last newspaper notice must come at least 20 days before the sale.

These are official markers, not a forecast. Your case can move faster or slower, so don't count on extra time.

Shortfall, leftover money and redemption

If a trust indenture is foreclosed by a trustee's sale, no one can sue you or get a judgment for the deficiency, the amount still owed after the sale.

In a court foreclosure, it's different: if the sale doesn't bring in enough, the court can enter a judgment for the balance against anyone personally liable for the debt.

If a trustee's sale brings in more than is owed, the trustee must deposit the extra money with the county clerk and recorder, with a written notice of the amount. To claim it, you file a petition in district court in that county. Junior lienholders share in it in the same order of priority they had in the home.

After a trustee's sale under a trust indenture, the redemption rights that apply to other foreclosure sales don't apply. After an execution sale, the debtor can redeem the property within 1 year after the sale by paying the buyer. And after a mortgage foreclosure, the buyer can't take possession from you during the redemption period while you live in it as your family's home.

Protections when you sell, lease or get offers

  • Montana's Consumer Protection Act makes unfair or deceptive acts in any trade or business unlawful.
  • Companies that offer foreclosure help can't charge you up front. They can charge only after they get you a deal from your lender that you want to accept.
  • A warning sign of a scam is a push to sign over title to your home, sometimes called a "rent to buy" scheme. Another is being told to stop paying your mortgage, which can hurt your credit and limit your options.
  • The state's banking division says to make sure any company or person is properly licensed before you do business with them.
  • Montana Board of Housing loans made since 1982 require you to live in the home, and the trust indenture rider says the home won't be rented.
  • If you sell a home and take back a mortgage for part of the price, you can't get a deficiency judgment if you later have to foreclose it.

Two of these touch how I buy. The Montana Board of Housing rule matters if I take over your payments or set up a lease option on one of its loans, and the seller rule matters if you finance part of my price. And don't stop talking to your lender while you weigh any offer, including mine.

Free help in Montana

Sources

Last checked October 26, 2026. Every fact on this page comes from one of these official sources.

  1. HUD Handbook 4000.1, FHA Single Family Housing Policy Handbook (PDF) (hud.gov)
  2. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-304 (mca.legmt.gov)
  3. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-313 (mca.legmt.gov)
  4. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-315 (mca.legmt.gov)
  5. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-317 (mca.legmt.gov)
  6. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-318 (mca.legmt.gov)
  7. CFPB: How long will it take before I’ll face foreclosure if I can’t make my mortgage payments? What is the foreclosure timeline? (consumerfinance.gov)
  8. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-319 (mca.legmt.gov)
  9. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-312 (mca.legmt.gov)
  10. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-320 (mca.legmt.gov)
  11. Montana Code Annotated § 32-9-170 (mca.legmt.gov)
  12. CFPB, Regulation X: § 1024.41 Loss mitigation procedures (consumerfinance.gov)
  13. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-306 (mca.legmt.gov)
  14. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-222 (mca.legmt.gov)
  15. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-316 (mca.legmt.gov)
  16. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-228 (mca.legmt.gov)
  17. Montana Code Annotated § 25-13-802 (mca.legmt.gov)
  18. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-229 (mca.legmt.gov)
  19. Montana Code Annotated § 30-14-103 (mca.legmt.gov)
  20. CFPB: How to spot and avoid foreclosure relief scams (consumerfinance.gov)
  21. Montana Division of Banking and Financial Institutions: consumer information (doa.mt.gov)
  22. Montana Housing (Montana Department of Commerce): mortgage FAQs (commerce.mt.gov)
  23. Montana Code Annotated § 71-1-232 (mca.legmt.gov)
  24. Montana Judicial Branch: Court Help Program (courts.mt.gov)

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