SR-22 insurance in Montana

In Montana the certificate is tied to revocation: a revoked license is not restored, and no probationary license is issued, until an insurer files a certificate. It then runs 3 years with a clean record.

What the Montana certificate certifies

Part 1 of chapter 6, Title 61 of the Montana Code Annotated is headed “Motor Vehicle Insurance Responsibility and Verification”. A motor vehicle liability policy under it must carry $25,000 per person / $50,000 per accident / $20,000 property damage — 25/50/20. The authority is Mont. Code Ann. sec. 61-6-103(1).

That is $25,000 for injury to or death of one person, $50,000 for two or more people in one accident, and $20,000 for property of others.

The certificate itself

Proof is given by an insurer's written certificate that a motor vehicle liability policy is in effect for the person required to give proof. The policy's effective date must match the certificate's, and the certificate lists the vehicles covered “unless the policy is issued to a person who is not the owner of a motor vehicle.”

Revocation is the trigger

Montana's section on when proof is required is short. “Whenever the department under any of the laws of this state revokes the license or privilege to drive of any person, the license must remain revoked and may not be restored until the person is otherwise eligible and files a certificate of insurance.”

Two things follow from the wording. The trigger is a revocation under any Montana law, not a particular offense list. And the certificate is a condition of restoration on top of being “otherwise eligible” — it does not shorten the revocation, it is one more thing needed at the end of it.

Probationary licenses need it too

The second subsection closes the obvious gap: the department “may not issue a probationary license” to a person whose license is revoked unless it receives proof by a certificate of insurance and the person is otherwise eligible for one. A driver hoping to drive on a probationary license during a revocation has to have the filing in place first.

Unpaid judgments

A separate section keeps a judgment debtor's license suspended until the judgment is stayed or satisfied and proof is given — or until 6 years have passed from the date the judgment was first entered and the person has complied with sections 61-6-301 and 61-6-302.

Three years, clean

The release section lets the department waive the requirement “at any time after 3 years from the date the proof was required when during the 3-year period preceding the request the department has not received record of a conviction or a forfeiture of bail” that would require or permit a suspension or revocation. Mont. Code Ann. sec. 61-6-142(1)(a).

It is a rolling look-back: a qualifying conviction late in the period keeps the window from being clean until three years have passed from it. The release is something the department does on request, so a driver who believes the period is over should ask rather than let the policy lapse.

Surrender, deposits, and the remainder rule

Proof is also released on death or permanent incapacity, or if the person surrenders the license. Reapplying within 3 years of the date proof was originally required means re-establishing proof for the remainder. Deposited money is not returned while a damages action is pending, a judgment is unpaid, or if the person was in an injury or damage accident in the preceding year.

Ten days' notice

Certified insurance cannot be canceled until at least 10 days after a notice is filed with the department. A replacement policy that is certified ends the earlier certification on its own effective date, for any vehicle named in both.

Filing for someone else in the household

Montana lets an owner give proof on behalf of an employee or a member of the owner's immediate family or household. The department then accepts the owner's proof in place of the other person's, so that person can drive a vehicle the owner has given proof for, and the restriction is designated “on the face of such person's license.”

Without a car

An operator's policy insures the named person for the use “of any motor vehicle not owned by the operator”, at the same limits as an owner's policy. The non-owner guide compares this with other states.

What this page does not cover

Montana's DUI penalties, revocation periods and ignition interlock requirements are in provisions this site has not read, so none of them is described here.

A note on sources

Every Montana section on this page was read on the Legislature's own code site, and the links go there directly.

Getting a comparable quote in Montana

Line it up before the revocation ends

The certificate is a condition of restoration, so the policy and the filing should be ready for the day you become eligible — or earlier, if you want a probationary license.

Check the limits line

25/50/20. A quote at lower limits does not meet the section.

Montana's clock is compared with every other state's in the filing-period guide.

Common questions about the Montana SR-22