Montana Adverse Possession (Squatters' Rights)

Mont. Code Ann. § 70-19-411 requires that 'the land has been occupied and claimed for a period of 5 years continuously' and that the claimant, predecessors, and grantors 'have during such period paid all the taxes, state, county, or municipal, which have been legally levied and assessed upon said land.' The tax-payment requirement is the key barrier: a mere trespasser who never pays the property taxes cannot perfect title no matter how long they remain. Possession must also be actual, open, notorious, exclusive, and hostile under Montana case law. Because a tenant occupies with permission, time on a lease never counts toward adverse possession against the landlord.

No specific statutory penalty. A holdover tenant or trespasser is removed through the court eviction or ejectment process; without 5 continuous years of possession and full payment of all taxes, no ownership claim arises under § 70-19-411.