Fence laws in Montana
What Montana statutes and statewide codes say about fences, one topic at a time, with the section number and a link to the document behind every line.
Fence laws in Montana, question by question
The short version
- Who pays on the line
- Montana splits a fence on a property line in equal shares between the people using the land on each side, for as long as both keep their land fenced in.
- How tall
- Montana sets no maximum fence height. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Permits
- The Montana state building code does not reach an ordinary house.
- Pool barriers
- A pool behind a house in Montana falls under no state barrier rule at all.
- Spite fences
- Montana has no spite fence statute. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide this one.
- Measured from what
- Montana leaves the measuring rule to the city or town council or other legislative body of a city or incorporated town.
- Corner lots
- Montana leaves corner clearance to city and town councils under the municipal zoning part of the Montana Code.
- Retaining walls
- Montana leaves retaining walls to the International Residential Code, 2021 edition, as amended by Title 24, Chapter 301 of the Administrative Rules of Montana.
- Materials
- Montana names eight builds that count as a legal fence, and an electric fence is one of them. The figure is 3 strands, for minimum number of strands in a legal electric fence. It reaches fences that hold livestock only.
- Livestock
- A legal fence in Montana has to stand at least forty two inches and no more than forty eight inches. The figure is 42 inches, for minimum height of a legal fence.
Who owns the fence between two properties in Montana?
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Montana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Montana splits a fence on a property line in equal shares between the people using the land on each side, for as long as both keep their land fenced in. The fence stays in good repair all year round, unless the two of them agree to something else.
The occupants of adjoining lands enclosed with fences must build and maintain partition fences between their own and the next adjoining enclosure in equal shares so long as both continue to enclose the same, and such partition fence must be kept in good repair throughout the year unless the occupants otherwise mutually agree.
Also on fences on the property line in Montana
- set in state lawMontana says which half of the fence is whose. Standing on their own land and looking at the line, each owner keeps up everything to the right of the middle point. Where one piece of land sits completely inside another, the split runs from the far northeast corner around to the halfway point. If the ground on the two sides is very different, the question goes back to the two owners to agree, and cost and time are what they weigh. MCA 70-16-205(2)Montana · Statute
- set in state lawMontana sets two waiting times before a neighbor can act alone. Sixty days notice for a new fence, and five days notice in writing for a repair. Once the time runs out, the neighbor may build or repair it and charge the side that did nothing, getting back what was spent plus any damage the delay caused. MCA 70-16-209Montana · Statute
- set in state lawFencing land next to a neighbor who already fenced brings a bill with it. Once the second owner fences in the land, that owner has three months either to build a fair share of the fence on the line, or to pay back the same share of what the existing fence is worth right then. MCA 70-16-207Montana · Statute
How tall can a fence be in Montana?
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Montana law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Montana sets no statewide limit on how tall a fence at a house can be. The forty two to forty eight inch range in the legal fence statute is for a fence that holds livestock, and it sits in the livestock title. The sections about a fence on a property line carry no measurement at all. The city or county sets the limit at a house.
Documents read before writing that:
- MCA 81-4-101Montana Legislature
- MCA 70-16-206Montana Legislature
Do I need a permit for a fence in Montana?
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Montana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
The Montana state building code does not reach an ordinary house. Homes with fewer than five units, and anything attached to them, sit outside it. So do farm and ranch buildings of any size, and private garages and storage buildings used only by the owner. A city or county can pull those buildings back in by passing its own rule, and until it does the state cannot enforce the code on them.
residential buildings containing less than five dwelling units or their attached-to structures, any farm or ranch building of any size, and any private garage or private storage structure of any size used only for the owner's own use, located within a county, city, or town, unless the local legislative body by ordinance or resolution makes the state building code applicable to these structures
Also on permits in Montana
- set in state lawA building permit in Montana is needed only for a building the state code already covers. The permit section names no list of its own. It points back at parts 1 through 4 of the chapter, which is the same set of buildings the scope section describes. MCA 50-60-108Montana · Statute
Pool fence requirements in Montana
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Montana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A pool behind a house in Montana falls under no state barrier rule at all. Montana defines a public swimming pool widely, taking in spas, splash decks, water slides, lazy rivers and wave pools, and then leaves out a pool on private land used only by the owner, the owner's family and invited guests. The shared pool of an owner occupied condominium is left out too.
swimming pools located on private property, including the private common area property of owner-occupied condominium developments, used for swimming or bathing only by the owner, members of the owner's family, or their invited guests
Also on pool barriers in Montana
- set in state lawA public swimming pool in Montana needs a barrier that meets the International Swimming Pool and Spa Code, chapter 3, section 305. A pool can use something else instead if the department approves it, such as an attendant whose only job is watching the pool, or an electronic alarm with video that somebody monitors. A safety cover that locks does not count. An old pool has to meet the current standard just the same. The rule lives in a circular that the state administrative rules adopt by naming it. Section 4.1.2Montana · Agency guidance
Spite fence laws in Montana
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Montana law has no rule about this. The chapters that were read are listed below. Cities and counties decide it instead.
Montana has no spite fence law. The nuisance chapter defines a public nuisance as getting in the way of a public right, and says nothing about fences, height or why one was built. In 2025 the legislature narrowed that chapter and repealed the old private nuisance section outright. The fence part of the property title is about building and paying for a fence on a line, and says nothing about a fence built out of spite.
Documents read before writing that:
- MCA 27-30-101Montana Legislature
- MCA 70-16-205Montana Legislature
How fence height is measured in Montana
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Montana does not set this. It leaves it to the city or town council or other legislative body of a city or incorporated town.
Montana never says where a fence height starts from. The fence sections of the property title, MCA 70-16-205 through 70-16-209, cover who builds which half and who pays, and carry no measurement at all. The livestock title sets a forty two to forty eight inch range for a legal fence and still names no starting point. The city zoning act gives the height of buildings and other structures to a city or town council, so the council sets both the limit and the way it is measured.
the city or town council or other legislative body of cities and incorporated towns is hereby empowered to regulate and restrict the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures
The code hands this to the city or town council or other legislative body of a city or incorporated town, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence rules for corner lots in Montana
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Montana does not set this. It leaves it to city and town councils under the municipal zoning part of the Montana Code.
Montana sets no clear view triangle at a corner. The city zoning part of Title 76 gives cities and towns power over the height of structures and the size of yards and open spaces, so that is where a corner rule sits when a Montana town has one. The county road part of Title 7 covers something else. It lets county commissioners pull an obstruction out of a county road, and it defines an obstruction as a thing sitting in the road itself, such as a rock or a fallen tree, not a fence standing on a corner lot.
is hereby empowered to regulate and restrict the height, number of stories, and size of buildings and other structures; the percentage of lot that may be occupied; the size of yards, courts, and other open spaces; the density of population; and the location and use of buildings, structures, and land for trade, industry, residence, or other purposes
The code hands this to city and town councils under the municipal zoning part of the Montana Code, which is not published in the code itself.
Retaining wall rules in Montana
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Montana does not set this. It leaves it to the International Residential Code, 2021 edition, as amended by Title 24, Chapter 301 of the Administrative Rules of Montana.
Montana prints no retaining wall rule in state law. The Building Codes Bureau adopts the model books by rule, and the residential one is the 2021 International Residential Code, changed by Title 24, Chapter 301 of the Administrative Rules of Montana. Whether a wall that holds back earth needs a permit, and how it has to be built, both come from that book and not from a Montana statute.
International Residential Code, 2021 Edition - Effective: June 11, 2022
Current Codes, All Building Codes Adopted by Montana
The code hands this to the International Residential Code, 2021 edition, as amended by Title 24, Chapter 301 of the Administrative Rules of Montana, which is not published in the code itself.
Fence materials allowed in Montana
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Montana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
Montana names eight builds that count as a legal fence, and an electric fence is one of them. An electric fence counts when it has at least three tight strands of 12.5 gauge high tensile steel or its equal, posts an average of fifty feet apart or closer, a charger putting out at least half a joule, and upkeep that keeps it working. Barbed wire runs through most of the other builds, from three strands on an ordinary fence to five on a corral fence. A fence on the list stays legal with a strand of electric wire added to it.
(6) electric fences that: (a) consist of at least three tightly stretched strands of at least 12.5 gauge, high-tensile steel or its equivalent; (b) are strung by sufficient posts set firmly in the ground not more than an average distance of 50 feet apart along the full span;
3 strandsminimum number of strands in a legal electric fence
Livestock and boundary fence law in Montana
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Montana answers this in its own law. The words that do it are quoted below.
A legal fence in Montana has to stand at least forty two inches and no more than forty eight inches. A maximum is unusual. Two things are left out of that range: corral fences around haystacks, and natural barriers such as a river or a cliff. The rest of the section lists the builds that meet the standard. It was written in 1881 and last changed in 2017.
Except as provided in subsections (2) and (7), a legal fence must be at least 42 inches but not more than 48 inches in height.
42 inminimum height of a legal fence
Also on agricultural fencing in Montana
- set in state lawThe first build on the Montana list is plain barbed wire. Three barbed wires running across, pulled tight, with the lowest between fifteen and eighteen inches off the ground, on solid posts no more than twenty feet apart. The posts can go to thirty three feet apart when two or more stays or pickets sit evenly between them. The section also allows woven wire with two barbed wires above it, four board or pole fences, and electric fences of at least three strands of 12.5 gauge high tensile steel carrying at least half a joule. MCA 81-4-101(1)Montana · Statute
- set in state lawOpen range in Montana means the parts of the state where livestock make up a big part of the local economy and graze mostly loose, without fences. The definition sits in the highway title, because the question it answers there is who fences a road. The same part tells the department to fence the highway right of way where it runs through open range, with one exception. MCA 60-7-102(4)Montana · Statute
Documents behind this page
13 documents, each read on the date shown. Nothing on this page rests on a summary of one.
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 70, Chapter 16, Part 2, Adjoining Landowners and Boundaries, Fences
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 70, Chapter 16, Part 2, Adjoining Landowners and Boundaries, Fences
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 70, Chapter 16, Part 2, Adjoining Landowners and Boundaries, Fences
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 70, Chapter 16, Part 2, Adjoining Landowners and Boundaries, Fences
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 81, Chapter 4, Part 1, Fences, Legal fences defined
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 50, Chapter 60, Part 1, Building Construction Standards
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 50, Chapter 60, Part 1, Building Construction Standards
- Montana Department of Public Health and Human ServicesCircular FCS 3-2022, Montana Standards for Public Swimming Pools
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 50, Chapter 53, Public Swimming Pools and Swimming Areas
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 27, Chapter 30, Part 1, Definition of public nuisance
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 76, Chapter 2, Part 3, Municipal Zoning
- Montana Department of Labor and Industry, Building Codes BureauCurrent Codes, All Building Codes Adopted by Montana
- Montana LegislatureMontana Code Annotated 2025, Title 60, Chapter 7, Part 1, Fencing of Open Range
What this page does not cover
Everything above is state law. Fence height, setback, corner visibility and materials are set by city and county ordinance in almost every state, and a local rule can be far stricter than the statewide default. A parcel can also carry an easement, an overlay district, a fire hazard zone or a recorded HOA restriction, none of which appear in a statute.
This is general information drawn from published government documents. It is not legal advice, statutes are amended, and the date beside each finding is the date the document was read. How findings are made · What the terms mean