Terms Used In Montana Code > Title 70 > Chapter 29 > Part 4 - Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act

• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Ascendant: means an individual who precedes another individual in lineage, in the direct line of ascent from the other individual. See Montana Code 70-29-402
• Attachment: A procedure by which a person's property is seized to pay judgments levied by the court.
• Collateral: means an individual who is related to another individual under the law of intestate succession of this state but who is not the other individual's ascendant or descendant. See Montana Code 70-29-402
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Descendant: means an individual who follows another individual in lineage, in the direct line of descent from the other individual. See Montana Code 70-29-402
• Determination of value: means a court order determining the fair market value of heirs property under 70-29-410 or 70-29-414 or adopting the valuation of the property agreed to by all cotenants. See Montana Code 70-29-402
• 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.
• Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
• Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
• Heirs property: means real property held in tenancy in common that satisfies all of the following requirements as of the filing of a partition action:

  (a)there is no agreement in a record binding all the cotenants that governs the partition of the property;

  (b)one or more of the cotenants acquired title from a relative, whether living or deceased; and

  (c)any of the following applies:

  (i)20% or more of the interests are held by cotenants who are relatives;

  (ii)20% or more of the interests are held by an individual who acquired title from a relative, whether living or deceased; or

  (iii)20% or more of the cotenants are relatives. See Montana Code 70-29-402

• Intestate: Dying without leaving a will.
• Partition by sale: means a court-ordered sale of the entire heirs property, whether by auction, sealed bids, or open-market sale conducted under 70-29-414. See Montana Code 70-29-402
• Partition in kind: means the division of heirs property into physically distinct and separately titled parcels. See Montana Code 70-29-402
• Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
• Property: means real and personal property. See Montana Code 1-1-205
• Record: means information that is inscribed on a tangible medium or that is stored in an electronic or other medium and is retrievable in perceivable form. See Montana Code 70-29-402
• Relative: means an ascendant, descendant, or collateral or an individual otherwise related to another individual by blood, marriage, adoption, or law of this state other than this part. See Montana Code 70-29-402
• Sole ownership: The type of property ownership in which one individual holds legal title to the property and has full control of it.
• 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
• Tenancy in common: A type of property ownership in which two or more individuals have an undivided interest in property. At the death of one tenant in common, his (her) fractional percentage of ownership in the property passes to the decedent