Yellowstone County District Court, Montana Document Filing Requirements

CRITICAL

Applies to

Transcript request

A transcript request must be made in writing and filed in the court file.

TRANSCRIPT. In the case of an appeal, a party must make a written request to the court reporter or transcriptionist for a transcript of the proceedings and make satisfactory arrangements to pay the estimated fees to obtain the transcript. The request must be filed in the court file

CRITICAL

Applies to

Extension request

Must include

proposed order

Every written or oral extension request must be accompanied by an appropriate proposed order.

All requests for extension of time, whether written or oral, shall be accompanied by an appropriate proposed order.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Petition for termination of parental rights

When filing a petition to terminate parental rights, Department counsel must provide parents’ and children’s counsel with exculpatory documentation, including the specified examples.

Counsel for the Department, at the time of the filing of a petition for termination of parental rights, shall also provide to counsel for the parents and child(ren) any exculpatory documentation, including, but not limited to, documents supportive of a parent's ability to parent and documents evidencing completion of treatment plan tasks.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Order judgment decree

Except for a clerk-entered default judgment under Rule 55(b)(1), counsel applying for an order, judgment, or decree must present it in writing with the court file for the Judge’s signature.

Except in circumstances where the Clerk of District Court enters judgment by default as provided in Rule 55(b)(1) M.R.Civ. P., it shall be the duty of counsel obtaining any order, judgment or decree to present the same, accompanied by the court file, in written form for the signature of the Judge at the time of applying for the order, judgment or decree.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Discovery

All parties must supplement dissemination of the specified documents and information as it becomes available.

All parties shall have a duty to supplement dissemination of the above documents and information as it becomes available.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Petition for permanent legal custody

When filing a petition for permanent legal custody, Department counsel must provide the specified counsel, guardian ad Litem, and appointed CASA with copies of all documents the Department seeks to admit at the termination trial, including the described third-party reports.

If not previously done so, counsel for the Department, at the time of the filing of a petition for permanent legal custody, shall provide to counsel for the parents, child(ren) and the guardian ad Litem, and appointed CASA copies of all documents sought to be admitted into evidence at the termination trial by the Department, including, but not limited to, all reports generated by third parties gathered by the Department in the course of its investigation and treatment of the family involved.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Trial brief

Unless otherwise ordered or waived by the judge upon request and good cause, counsel must present and serve a trial brief at least two days before trial containing the case theory, issues, and supporting authorities.

Unless otherwise ordered, at least two (2) days before the trial of any cause, civil or criminal, counsel shall present to the judge presiding and serve upon opposing counsel a trial brief, setting forth a statement of the theory of their cause and the issues involved, with a statement of the authorities upon which they rely as to both the law of the case and in support of the introduction of evidence proposed to be offered. See Rule 4 above for length limitations. The presiding judge may waive a trial brief upon request and for good cause.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Discovery

Department counsel must provide a list of items expected to be disseminated in discovery.

Counsel for the Department shall provide a list of items that shall be expected to be disseminated in discovery.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Discovery

Discovery may be filed only with counsel’s certification that filing is necessary and appropriate to a pending motion or by court order.

DISCOVERY. Discovery shall not be routinely filed and shall only be filed upon certification of counsel that filing is necessary and appropriate to a pending motion or upon order of the Court.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Settlement statement

Unless otherwise ordered or agreed to in writing, each settlement statement must contain the specified case, legal, factual, and settlement information; it may not be filed or exchanged with other parties and is returned after the conference, subject to the stated statistical-report exception.

Unless otherwise ordered or agreed to by the parties in writing, the following guidelines shall apply to settlement conferences before a settlement master and to mediations before a mediator: (2) A statement from each party or counsel shall be submitted directly to the settlement master or mediator no later than three (3) business days prior to the conference. The statement may not exceed five (5) pages in length and shall contain: (i) The background of the case; (ii) Factual and legal issues, including damages; (iii) Points and authorities of law; (iv) A description of the strongest and weakest points in their case, both legal and factual, and that of their opponents; (v) The history of settlement negotiations, including a recitation of any specific offers and demands; and (vi) The settlement statement shall not be filed or exchanged with other parties and will be returned to the party providing the statement at the close of the settlement conference. (Provided, however, that a report of the success or failure of the settlement conference may be made to the Yellowstone Area Bar Association for statistical purposes.)

CRITICAL

Applies to

Motion

The moving party must notice a motion for hearing.

The State or the defendant may make any motion permitted under the Montana Rules of Criminal Procedure at any time after arraignment and the motion shall be noticed for hearing by the moving party.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Guilty plea acknowledgment

Before a guilty plea is accepted, the defendant’s attorney must file a fully executed waiver acknowledgment consistent in form and content with the Clerk’s general-order-file copy.

Before the judge will accept any plea of guilty, the attorney for the defendant shall file with the Court a fully executed Acknowledgment of Waiver of Rights by Plea of Guilty, in the form and with content consistent with the one on file with the Clerk in the general order file, copies of which shall be available from the Clerk.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Motion

The title of every motion must identify the applicable Montana Rules of Civil Procedure rule number.

All motions shall be identified in the title of the pleading with the applicable rule number of the Montana Rules of Civil Procedure.

CRITICAL

Applies to

Filed document

Must include

ai disclosure

An attorney or self-represented party who uses generative AI to prepare a filed document must identify the AI used and certify that every citation to law or the record has been verified as accurate.

If an attorney for a party or a self-represented party has used generative Artificial Intelligence (hereafter “AI”) in the preparation of any document filed with the 13th Judicial District Court, they MUST, identify the type of AI used and CERTIFY every citation to the law or record in the filing has been verified as accurate.

WARNING

Applies to

Discovery

Discovery in the possession of the Department that should be regularly disseminated to counsel shall include, but not be limited to, the following: • Family Functioning Assessments, when available • Safety plans

Discovery in the possession of the Department that should be regularly disseminated to counsel shall include, but not be limited to, the following: • Family Functioning Assessments, when available • Safety plans