Montana Code Annotated
Part 2. Adjudication of Water Rights
85-2-232. Availability of temporary preliminary decree, preliminary decree, or supplemental preliminary decree

85-2-232. Availability of temporary preliminary decree, preliminary decree, or supplemental preliminary decree. (1) (a) The water judge shall send to the department a copy of a temporary preliminary decree, preliminary decree, or supplemental preliminary decree issued for a basin.
(b) The water judge shall serve by mail a notice of availability of the temporary preliminary decree, preliminary decree, or supplemental preliminary decree to each person who has filed a claim of existing right within the decreed basin or to that person's successor as documented in the department's records.
(c) The water judge shall also serve by mail a notice of availability of the temporary preliminary decree, preliminary decree, or supplemental preliminary decree to the purchaser under contract for deed, as defined in 70-20-115, of property in connection with which a claim of existing right has been filed within the decreed basin.
(d) In the Powder River basin, the water judge shall serve by mail a notice of availability of the temporary preliminary decree, preliminary decree, or supplemental preliminary decree to each person or to that person's successor as documented in the department's records, who has filed a declaration of an existing right.
(e) The water judge shall enclose with a notice required under subsections (1)(b) through (1)(d) an abstract of the disposition of the claimed or declared existing right of a person identified in this section or that person's successor as documented in the department's records.
(f) The notice of availability required under this section must also be served upon:
(i) those issued or having applied for and not having been denied a permit to beneficially use water within the decreed basin pursuant to Title 85, chapter 2, part 3;
(ii) those granted a reservation within the decreed basin pursuant to 85-2-316; or
(iii) other interested persons who request service of the notice from the water judge.
(g) When the water court provides notice to claimants of the opportunity to object, it shall include information explaining the right to appeal a water court decision as provided in 85-2-235.
(2) The clerk or person designated by the water judge to mail the notice shall make a general certificate of mailing certifying that a copy of the notice has been placed in the United States mail, postage prepaid, addressed to each party required to be served notice of the temporary preliminary decree or preliminary decree. The certificate is conclusive evidence of legal notice of entry of decree.
(3) Notice of the availability of a preliminary decree or a supplemental preliminary decree must also be published at least once each week for 3 consecutive weeks in at least three newspapers of general circulation that cover the water division or divisions in which the decreed basin is located. This notice must be provided before the final decree for the basin is issued.
(4) A person may obtain a copy of the temporary preliminary decree, preliminary decree, or supplemental preliminary decree upon payment of a fee of $20 or the cost of printing, whichever is greater, to the water judge. The fee must be deposited in the state general fund.
History: En. Sec. 22, Ch. 697, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 28, Ch. 526, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 605, L. 1989; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 197, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 29, Ch. 389, L. 1999; amd. Sec. 5, Ch. 526, L. 2005; amd. Sec. 6, Ch. 338, L. 2017.

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