Montana Code Annotated
Part 26. Establishment, Alteration, and Abandonment of County Roads
7-14-2622. Recognition of county road route by district court

7-14-2622. Recognition of county road route by district court. (1) The county commission or a directly affected person, if the person has appeared before a regular meeting of the county commission to notify the commission of the person's intent, may request that a district court recognize a route of a county road that is maintained by the county and used by the public as the legal route if any of the following conditions exist:
(a) there is doubt about the legal establishment or evidence of establishment of the county road;
(b) the location of the county road cannot be accurately determined because of:
(i) numerous alterations to the road;
(ii) a defective survey of the road or adjacent property; or
(iii) loss or destruction of the original survey of the road; or
(c) the road as traveled and used for 10 years or more does not conform to the location of the road as described in county records.
(2) The county commission or the directly affected person requesting recognition of a route shall provide to the court:
(a) the reason for the request and the condition that exists;
(b) the location of the portion of the road that is the subject of the request;
(c) any maps or historical use information that may assist the court in determining whether or not to recognize a route; and
(d) any other information requested by the court.
(3) Upon receipt of a request and consideration of the information provided and any other information that the court considers appropriate, the court may, subject to subsection (4), recognize a route of a county road as the legal route. The route as recognized by the court is considered to be a county road.
(4) The court shall provide notice and the opportunity for a public hearing to affected landowners, the county commission, and directly affected persons before recognizing or declining to recognize a route of a county road as the legal route.
(5) This section does not apply to county roads established by prescriptive easement.
History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 241, L. 2009.