2023 Montana Code Annotated › Title 76. Land Resources and Use › Chapter 25. Montana Land Use Planning Act › Part 4. Subdivision Regulations › 76-25-412. Survey requirements

76-25-412. Survey requirements.
(1) Divisions of land under this chapter must follow the uniform standards governing monumentation, certificates of survey, and subdivision plats prescribed and adopted by the board of professional engineers and professional land surveyors.
(2) All division of sections into aliquot parts and retracement of lines must conform to United States bureau of land management instructions, and all public land survey corners must be filed in accordance with Title 70, chapter 22, part 1. Engineering plans, specifications, and reports required in connection with public improvements and other elements of the subdivision required by the governing body must be prepared and filed by a registered engineer or a registered land surveyor, as their respective licensing laws allow, in accordance with this part and regulations adopted pursuant to this part.
(3) All divisions of land for sale other than a subdivision created after July 1, 1974, divided into parcels that cannot be described as 1/32 or larger aliquot parts of a United States government section or a United States government lot must be surveyed by or under the supervision of a registered land surveyor. Surveys required under this section must comply with the requirements of subsection (8).
(4) Except as provided in 70-22-105, within 180 days of the completion of a survey, the professional land surveyor responsible for the survey, whether the surveyor is privately or publicly employed, shall prepare and submit for filing a certificate of survey in the county in which the survey was made if the survey:
(a) provides material evidence not appearing on any map filed with the county clerk and recorder or contained in the records of the United States bureau of land management;
(b) reveals a material discrepancy in the map;
(c) discloses evidence to suggest alternate locations of lines or points; or
(d) establishes one or more lines not shown on a recorded map, the positions of which are not ascertainable from an inspection of the map without trigonometric calculations.
(5) A certificate of survey is not required for any survey that is made by the United States bureau of land management, that is preliminary, or that will become part of a subdivision plat being prepared for recording under the provisions of this chapter.
(6) It is the responsibility of the governing body to require the replacement of all monuments removed in the course of construction.
(7) (a) A registered land surveyor may administer and certify oaths when:
(i) it becomes necessary to take testimony for the identification of old corners or reestablishment of lost or obliterated corners;
(ii) a corner or monument is found in a deteriorating condition and it is desirable that evidence concerning it be perpetuated; or
(iii) the importance of the survey makes it desirable to administer an oath to the surveyor's assistants for the faithful performance of their duty.
(b) A record of oaths must be preserved as part of the field notes of the survey and noted on the certificate of survey filed under subsection (4).
(8) (a) (i) A surveyor who completes a survey identified in subsection (8)(b) that establishes or defines a section line and creates a parcel that crosses the established or defined section line so that an irrigation district assessment boundary is included in more than one section shall note on the survey the acreage of the farm unit or created parcel in each section.
(ii) The surveyor shall notify the appropriate irrigation district of the existence of the survey and the purpose of the survey.
(b) The requirements of subsection (8)(a) apply only to surveys for which the surveyor determines that, based on available public records, the survey involves land:
(i) traversed by a canal or ditch owned by an irrigation district; or
(ii) included in an irrigation district.
History: En. Sec. 33, Ch. 500, L. 2023.