# Sell Montana Mineral Rights | Bakken, Elm Coulee | Berlin Royalties > Sell Montana mineral rights and Bakken royalties in Richland and Roosevelt County. The 6 percent mineral royalty withholding, no dormant mineral act, MCA 82-11-202 pooling and the one eighth unleased royalty. Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/ Publisher: Berlin Royalties, a veteran-owned oil and gas mineral and royalty buyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, buying for its own account since 2014. Call or text 918-984-1645. License: free to quote and cite with attribution to Berlin Royalties and a link to the source URL. Where We Buy ยท Montana ## Sell your Montana mineral rights and royalties. Elm Coulee and the Montana side of the Bakken, plus a century of legacy production. Montana minerals never lapse, which is rare and valuable, and Montana withholds 6 percent of your royalty before you ever see it, which almost nobody explains. [Get a Free Valuation](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/) or call or text [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645) Montana is the state where the Bakken era actually began. Elm Coulee in Richland County was the discovery that proved horizontal drilling and fracturing could produce oil from the Bakken at scale, several years before North Dakota's boom. Montana royalty owners are a much smaller group than North Dakota's, and there is essentially nothing written for them. Berlin buys Montana minerals and royalties across the eastern Bakken counties and the legacy conventional fields. Two facts define Montana ownership, and both are worth knowing before you talk to any buyer. ## Montana minerals never lapse Montana has **never enacted dormant mineral legislation**. Montana State University Extension states it directly: mineral ownership never lapses in Montana. That is a genuinely valuable property of the asset, and it puts Montana with [Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/) and against [Kansas](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/kansas/), [North Dakota](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/), and [Ohio](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ohio/), where a severed interest can be extinguished after a period of nonuse. If you inherited Montana minerals from a grandparent and nobody has leased, produced, or recorded anything since 1948, **they are still yours.** No filing is required to keep them. The interest may be hard to trace and the estates may never have been probated, but the ownership itself did not evaporate. That also means Montana has an unusual density of genuinely lost interests: royalties sitting in operator suspense and at the Montana Department of Revenue's unclaimed property division because nobody knows who the heirs are. See [unclaimed royalties](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/unclaimed-royalties/). If we find money that belongs to you, we tell you how to claim it and **you** keep it, whether or not you ever sell. ## The 6 percent nobody explains Montana requires **remitters to withhold 6 percent of the net royalty** paid to royalty owners, under MCA sections 15-30-2536 through 15-30-2547, and specifically **MCA section 15-30-2538**. There is a de minimis exception: no withholding is required if the amount is under **$166** in the current period, or under **$2,000** if paid annually. Two things owners get wrong about this. First, it is **not a fee or a tax you are simply out**. It is a prepayment of Montana income tax, and you reconcile it by filing a Montana return. An out of state owner whose only Montana income is a modest royalty is frequently overwithheld and never recovers it, because they never file. Second, when you compare Montana royalty income to North Dakota royalty income, you have to compare like for like. The Montana check arrives smaller. That is withholding, not a smaller royalty. Montana's individual income tax has a top rate of **5.65 percent**. Nonresidents are taxed on Montana source income. See [taxes when you sell mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/mineral-rights-capital-gains-tax/), and talk to a CPA who handles multistate royalty returns. ## Unleased in a Montana unit: what the statute gives you **MCA section 82-11-202** governs pooling within a spacing unit. | Situation | Result | | Refusing owner, **unleased** | Considered to own a **landowner royalty equal to one eighth** of their proportionate share of production, until costs are recovered || Nonconsenting owner, drilling and completion costs | Charged **200 percent** (staking, site preparation, rights of way, rigging up, drilling, reworking, deepening or plugging back, testing, completing) || Nonconsenting owner, surface equipment | Charged **100 percent** || Election period | **30 days** after proper written notice by certified mail containing location, projected depth, anticipated costs, and spud date | Now put that next to [North Dakota](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/), where an unleased owner pooled after July 31, 2009 receives the acreage weighted average royalty of leased tracts or, at the operator's election, a **cost free 16 percent**, and where the nonparticipation penalty for an unleased owner is **50 percent** rather than 200. Same Bakken. Same operators, in many cases. A state line, and materially different economics for an unleased owner. This is exactly the kind of fact that should be priced into an offer on Montana acreage, and in our experience never is. If you are holding a Montana pooling or election notice, send it to [Ask a Landman](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ask-a-landman/) or text a photo to [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645). We will read it free and tell you what the deadline is. ## Deductions: unsettled, and we will say so We looked for a Montana Supreme Court decision adopting either the "at the well" rule or the first marketable product rule and did not find one. Montana does not appear in the standard multistate surveys of post production cost law. Montana does have **MCA section 82-10-103**, which makes the obligation to pay royalties of the essence of the oil and gas contract and provides for interest on late payment. So the honest statement is: **Montana has no controlling rule, and your lease language governs.** That is a less predictable position than an owner has in [Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/), where the definition is statutory, or [West Virginia](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/west-virginia/), where the case law is strong and specific. Anyone who tells you confidently that Montana operators may or may not deduct is telling you more than the law supports. Read your lease. Our [royalty statement decoder](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/royalty-statement-decoder/) explains what the deduction lines mean, and our [letter templates](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/letter-templates/) include a certified mail demand for an itemized accounting. ## The severance tax holiday Montana structures its production tax around an incentive for new drilling, which is unusual and which affects what a new well is worth versus an old one. - **New wells: 0.5 percent** for the first **12 months** (vertical) or first **18 months** (horizontal) - **After the incentive period: 9 percent** standard rate - **Pre-1999 wells:** higher rates, with reductions for marginal and incremental production - **Post-1999 enhanced recovery:** 5.5 to 8.5 percent - **Stripper and marginal**, under 10 barrels per day: 0.5 to 6 percent - Plus a **variable tax up to 0.3 percent** for regulatory and impact accounts Authority is MCA section 15-36-304. Verify current tiers against the statute and the Department of Revenue before relying on specific numbers. ## What actually moves a Montana interest's value - **Elm Coulee versus the rest.** Richland County Bakken and a Toole County shallow oil interest are entirely different assets. - **Remaining locations.** Montana Bakken development has been more episodic than North Dakota's. Undrilled inventory is real but should be priced with appropriate probability, not promised. - **Title depth.** Montana has an unusual number of interests never probated across two or three generations, precisely because nothing forced the issue. We pay for the curative work as part of a purchase. See [selling inherited minerals before probate is done](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/sell-inherited-minerals-probate/). - **Federal and state acreage.** A meaningful share of eastern Montana minerals are federal or state, and interests derived from those leases are not the same as fee minerals. - **Whether the interest is on the Fort Peck or Blackfeet reservation.** Allotted and tribal lands have entirely different rules and a different transfer process, and we will tell you plainly if that is what you have. ## Statutes and primary sources - **Mineral royalty withholding**, MCA sections 15-30-2536 through 15-30-2547, especially [MCA 15-30-2538](https://law.justia.com/codes/montana/title-15/chapter-30/part-25/section-15-30-2538/); see the [Montana Department of Revenue withholding page](https://revenue.mt.gov/taxes/nature-resource-taxes/Mineral-Royalty-Withholding) - **Pooling within a spacing unit**, [MCA section 82-11-202](https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/2023/mca/title_0820/chapter_0110/part_0020/section_0020/0820-0110-0020-0020.html) - **Royalty payment obligation and interest**, MCA section 82-10-103 - **Production tax rates**, MCA section 15-36-304 - **Montana Board of Oil and Gas Conservation**, including the [BOGC Data Miner](https://bogapps.dnrc.mt.gov/dataminer/) well and production search and the [mineral and surface owner page](https://dnrc.mt.gov/bogc/mineral-surface-owners). See our [well records by state](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/well-records/) page. - **Montana Cadastral**, a free statewide parcel and surface ownership viewer: [svc.mt.gov/msl/cadastral](https://svc.mt.gov/msl/cadastral/). Note this is parcel and surface ownership, not a deed index. - Land records are held by **county clerk and recorders**. Montana has no statewide official deed portal. - **No dormant mineral act**, confirmed by [MSU Extension MontGuide MT201207AG](https://apps.msuextension.org/montguide/guide.html?sku=MT201207AG) Last reviewed August 2026. Berlin Royalties is a mineral buyer and a landman shop, not a law firm or a tax advisor, and this page is general information rather than advice about your interest. ## Where to start Also see our [Bakken and Williston Basin page](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/basins/bakken-williston/), which compares the Montana and North Dakota rules side by side. Send a check stub, a lease, a deed, or just a county and a family name. Montana interests are often traceable even when the family has lost the paperwork entirely, because nothing lapsed. We will run the records, tell you what you own, tell you what it is worth and how we got there, and tell you honestly if you should keep it. Free, and no obligation. Formations & Plays ## What produces here ### Bakken and Three Forks The Elm Coulee field in Richland County was the discovery that started the whole Bakken era, and the play extends across Richland, Roosevelt, Sheridan, and Daniels. ### Cut Bank, Kevin-Sunburst and northwest conventional A century of shallow production along the Rocky Mountain Front. Small checks, very long lives, and title chains from the 1920s that have never been cleaned up. ### Powder River and Cedar Creek Anticline Southeastern Montana oil, sharing geology with the Wyoming Powder River, plus the long Cedar Creek trend running down toward the Dakotas. Counties ## Where we're most active [Richland County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/richland-county/) [Roosevelt County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/roosevelt-county/) [Sheridan County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/sheridan-county/) [Daniels County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/daniels-county/) [Dawson County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/dawson-county/) [Fallon County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/fallon-county/) Wibaux Carter [Toole County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/toole-county/) Glacier Pondera The eastern Bakken counties are our focus, and we review interests across Montana including the legacy northwest fields. ### The Montana mineral owner's guide Everything a Montana owner needs in one place: who owns what under state law, how royalties must be paid and by when, what a buyer can and cannot deduct, the tax treatment of a sale, and the deadlines that quietly cost people their minerals. Free, and no sign-up. [Read the Montana guide](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/guide/montana/) Questions ## Straight answers for Montana owners Why is 6 percent being taken out of my Montana royalty check? Because Montana requires it. Montana law requires remitters to withhold 6 percent of the net royalty paid to royalty owners, under MCA sections 15-30-2536 through 15-30-2547 and specifically section 15-30-2538. There is a de minimis exception: no withholding is required if the amount is under $166 in the current period, or under $2,000 if paid annually. This is a prepayment of Montana income tax, not a fee, and you reconcile it by filing a Montana return. A great many out of state Montana royalty owners never file and never recover the overwithholding. Can I lose Montana mineral rights that have sat unused for decades? No. Montana has never enacted dormant mineral legislation, so mineral ownership does not lapse in Montana. Montana State University Extension states it plainly: mineral ownership never lapses in Montana. That puts Montana with Wyoming and against Kansas, North Dakota, and Ohio, where a severed interest can be extinguished after 20 years of nonuse. If you inherited old Montana minerals, they are almost certainly still yours, even if nobody has touched them since the 1940s. I am unleased and they are drilling a well on my Montana section. What do I get? Under MCA section 82-11-202, a refusing owner whose interest is unleased is considered to own a landowner royalty equal to one eighth of their proportionate share of production until costs are recovered. A nonconsenting owner is charged 200 percent of costs for staking, site preparation, rights of way, rigging up, drilling, reworking, deepening or plugging back, testing and completing, and 100 percent for surface equipment. The election period is 30 days after proper written notice by certified mail containing the location, projected depth, anticipated costs, and spud date. Note that North Dakota gives an unleased pooled owner up to a 16 percent cost free royalty on the same Bakken geology. Same play, different state line, materially different economics. Can the operator deduct post production costs from my Montana royalty? Honest answer: it is unsettled, and any buyer who tells you otherwise is overstating. We found no Montana Supreme Court decision adopting either the at the well rule or the first marketable product rule, and Montana does not appear in the standard multi state surveys of post production cost law. Montana does have MCA section 82-10-103, which makes the obligation to pay royalties of the essence of the contract and provides for interest. In the absence of a controlling rule, your lease language governs and the outcome is less predictable than in neighboring states. How does Montana's severance tax work? It is built around a drilling holiday, which is unusual. New wells are taxed at 0.5 percent for the first 12 months if vertical, or the first 18 months if horizontal. After that incentive period the standard rate is 9 percent. Pre-1999 wells are taxed at higher rates with reductions for marginal and incremental production, post-1999 enhanced recovery runs 5.5 to 8.5 percent, and stripper and marginal wells under 10 barrels per day run 0.5 to 6 percent. A small variable tax of up to 0.3 percent funds regulatory and impact accounts. Authority is MCA section 15-36-304. ## Before you sign anything in Montana The things owners here most often wish they had read first. All free, none of it gated. - [How mineral rights are valued](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/mineral-rights-value/), including the rule of thumb people quote and why it is usually wrong - [Selling mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/sell-mineral-rights/) and [selling oil and gas royalties](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/sell-oil-and-gas-royalties/), with the real process and timeline - [The Pugh clause](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pugh-clause/), the single most valuable sentence you can negotiate into a lease - [What a farm out is](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/farmout-agreements/), and why your operator suddenly changed - [The rule of capture](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/rule-of-capture/), and why a neighbor's well can legally drain your minerals - [Non-participating royalty interests](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/non-participating-royalty-interest/), if your deed carved one out - [Executive rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/executive-rights/), if somebody else signs the lease that binds your minerals - [Surface owner rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/surface-owner-rights/), if you own the ground and someone else owns what is under it - [Questions to ask a buyer](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/questions-to-ask/) and [what happens if you want out after signing](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/can-i-back-out-of-a-mineral-rights-sale/) Free Valuation ## Find out what your Montana minerals are worth. Free, no obligation, and no pressure. We reply within one business day, usually faster. Prefer the phone? Call or text [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645) and you will get Stephen, the owner, not a call center. If we miss you, we text back the same day. Your Name Phone Number Email Address Where are your minerals located? OklahomaTexasNew MexicoLouisiana ArkansasKansasNorth DakotaMontana WyomingColoradoUtahCalifornia West VirginiaOhioPennsylvaniaKentucky MichiganMississippiAlabamaAlaska Sand/Gravel/AggregateOther / Not sure County (if known) Interest type Select an option Minerals and Royalties Working Interest Overriding Royalty Interest An Entity (LLC, Partnership, Trust) Not Sure Are you currently receiving royalty checks? Select an option Yes No I Used To But They Stopped Not Sure Have you received offers for your minerals before? Select an option Yes No What best describes your situation? Select an option I'm ready to sell now I'm exploring my options I'm just curious what they're worth Anything else? (optional) Get My Free Valuation No cost, no obligation, and we never share your information.