Judge Ben Fosland

Applies to

Document

A document must show the necessary signatures to be filed by the Clerk of Court.

Applies to

Omnibus hearing memorandum

The parties must file a completed Omnibus Hearing Memorandum.

Applies to

Motion

A party seeking a witness’s Zoom appearance must file a motion if opposing counsel opposes it.

Court scheduling is handled through the Judicial Assistant or designated personnel, and the Court will set a matter after two unanswered attempts to communicate.

An attorney must advise the Judicial Assistant if a matter is expected to be contested or to take more than 15 minutes.

Those wishing to use courthouse facilities must contact the Judicial Assistant and County Clerk in advance to reserve them; last-minute statutorily required matters take priority.

The completed Omnibus Hearing Memorandum is due no later than the Thursday before the scheduled hearing.

A party seeking the judge’s personal appearance must file a specific request reasonably in advance of the hearing; otherwise, the judge may appear remotely.

A party who obtains an order or arrest warrant directly from the Court must present it to the Clerk of Court immediately for recording.

The Clerk of Court should not file, and the Court may strike, any papers presented for filing which do not conform to Montana Uniform District Court Rules (MUDCR) 1 and Rules 10 and 11 of the M. R. Civ. P.

Briefs should be concise but sufficiently thorough, and the Court may strike rambling, verbose, inflammatory, or unintelligible briefs or pleadings; the Clerk will return noncompliant documents.

Proposed orders must omit submitting counsel's name and address from the top left-hand corner and, when e-filed, must be attached in Microsoft Word format.