Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 71 > Chapter 3 - Liens

• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Affidavit: means a sworn written declaration made before an officer authorized to administer oaths or an unsworn written declaration made under penalty of perjury as provided in 1-6-105. See Montana Code 1-1-203
• Ambulance service: means a person providing ground or air ambulance transport, licensed under 50-6-306, that:

  (a)is in-network with at least two insurers that together provide coverage for at least 25% of health insurance insureds in the state; or

  (b)accepts insurance, including copayments, coinsurance, or deductibles, as payment in full and does not offer memberships under Title 33, chapter 2, part 22. See Montana Code 71-3-1113

• Annuity: A periodic (usually annual) payment of a fixed sum of money for either the life of the recipient or for a fixed number of years. A series of payments under a contract from an insurance company, a trust company, or an individual. Annuity payments are made at regular intervals over a period of more than one full year.
• Appropriation: The provision of funds, through an annual appropriations act or a permanent law, for federal agencies to make payments out of the Treasury for specified purposes. The formal federal spending process consists of two sequential steps: authorization
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. ^{Source: OCC}
• Beneficiary: means a person entitled to insurance benefits. See Montana Code 71-3-1113
• Bequest: Property gifted by will.
• Clerk of court: An officer appointed by the court to work with the chief judge in overseeing the court's administration, especially to assist in managing the flow of cases through the court and to maintain court records.
• Commencement of work: means the date of the first visible change in the physical condition of the real estate caused by the first person furnishing services or materials pursuant to a particular real estate improvement contract. See Montana Code 71-3-522
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract price: means the amount agreed upon by the contracting parties for performing services and furnishing materials covered by the contract, increased or diminished by:

  (i)the price of change orders or extras;

  (ii)any amounts attributable to altered specifications; or

  (iii)a breach of contract, including but not limited to defects in workmanship or materials. See Montana Code 71-3-522

• Contracting owner: means a person who owns an interest in real estate and who, personally or through an agent, enters into an express or implied contract for the improvement of the real estate. See Montana Code 71-3-522
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Decedent: A deceased person.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• Dentist: means a person practicing dentistry as provided in 37-4-101. See Montana Code 71-3-1113
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Dismissal: The dropping of a case by the judge without further consideration or hearing. ^Source:
• Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. ^{Source: U.S. Courts}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• First purchaser: means the first person who under contract purchases oil or gas from an interest owner at or after the time the oil or gas is severed. See Montana Code 71-3-1602
• Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
• Insurance: means a contract through which a person, the insurer, undertakes to indemnify another, the insured, or pay or provide a determinable amount or benefit upon determinable contingencies. See Montana Code 71-3-1113
• Insurer: has the meaning of a health insurance issuer provided in 33-22-140. See Montana Code 71-3-1113
• Interest owner: means a person:

  (a)who owns an entire or a fractional interest of any kind or nature in the oil or gas at the time it is severed; or

  (b)who has a right, either express or implied, to receive a monetary payment determined by the value of the severed oil or gas. See Montana Code 71-3-1602

• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Leasehold: means a tenant's leasehold interest, as defined in 30-2A-103, in property on which the oil or gas well is located. See Montana Code 71-3-1602
• Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
• lien: means a lien against real estate arising under this part. See Montana Code 71-3-522
• lumber: as used in this part , means all logs or other timber sawed or split for use, including beams, joists, planks, boards, shingles, laths, staves, hoops, and every article of any nature or description manufactured from sawlogs or other timber. See Montana Code 71-3-601
• Material: means material, fuel, machinery, equipment, appliances, buildings, structures, tools, bits, or supplies but does not include drilling rigs or hoists or their integral component parts except wire lines. See Montana Code 71-3-1001
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Oath: includes an affirmation or declaration. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Oath: A promise to tell the truth.
• Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
• Operator: means any person engaged in the severance of oil or gas on the operator's own behalf, on behalf of the operator and other persons, or on behalf of other persons. See Montana Code 71-3-1602
• Original contractor: means a contractor who contracts directly with the contracting owner. See Montana Code 71-3-522
• Outpatient center for surgical services: means a facility registered as provided in 50-32-314. See Montana Code 71-3-1113
• Owner: includes a person holding any interest in the legal or equitable title, or both, and purchasers under executory contract. See Montana Code 71-3-1001
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means an individual, a corporation, an organization, or other legal entity. See Montana Code 71-3-1113
• Person: means any individual, executor, administrator, agent, trustee, or receiver or an estate, institution, business trust, trust of any other kind, firm, corporation, partnership, cooperative, limited liability company, limited liability partnership, sole proprietorship, government agency, association, or any other group acting as a unit. See Montana Code 71-3-1602
• Person: includes a corporation or other entity as well as a natural person. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Personal property: means money, goods, chattels, things in action, and evidences of debt. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• Presiding officer: A majority-party Senator who presides over the Senate and is charged with maintaining order and decorum, recognizing Members to speak, and interpreting the Senate's rules, practices and precedents.
• Process: means a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Purchaser: means a person who under contract purchases oil or gas from a first purchaser. See Montana Code 71-3-1602
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Real estate improvement contract: means an agreement to perform services, including labor, or to furnish materials for the purpose of producing a change in the physical condition of the real estate, including:

  (i)alteration of the surface by excavation, fill, change in grade, or change in a shore, bank, or flood plain of a stream, swamp, or body of water;

  (ii)construction or installation on, above, or below the surface of land;

  (iii)demolition, repair, remodeling, or removal of a structure previously constructed or installed;

  (iv)seeding, sodding, or other landscape operation;

  (v)surface or subsurface testing, boring, or analysis; and

  (vi)preparation of plans, surveys, or architectural or engineering plans or drawings for any change in the physical condition of the real estate, regardless of whether they are used to produce a change in the physical condition of the real estate. See Montana Code 71-3-522

• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Real property: means lands, tenements, hereditaments, and possessory title to public lands. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
• Several: means two or more. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• severance: means the taking, extraction, or production from the leasehold of oil or gas in any manner. See Montana Code 71-3-1602
• State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Trial: A hearing that takes place when the defendant pleads "not guilty" and witnesses are required to come to court to give evidence.
• Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
• Uniform Commercial Code: A set of statutes enacted by the various states to provide consistency among the states' commercial laws. It includes negotiable instruments, sales, stock transfers, trust and warehouse receipts, and bills of lading. ^{Source: OCC}
• United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
• Usual: means according to usage. See Montana Code 1-1-206
• Veto: The procedure established under the Constitution by which the President/Governor refuses to approve a bill or joint resolution and thus prevents its enactment into law. A regular veto occurs when the President/Governor returns the legislation to the house in which it originated. The President/Governor usually returns a vetoed bill with a message indicating his reasons for rejecting the measure. In Congress, the veto can be overridden only by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House.
• Writ: A formal written command, issued from the court, requiring the performance of a specific act.
• Writ: means an order in writing issued in the name of the state or of a court or judicial officer. See Montana Code 1-1-202
• Writing: includes printing. See Montana Code 1-1-203