Mont. Judicial Branch, Answering Your Landlord's Complaint to Evict You

Answering Your Landlord’s Complaint to Evict You, Page 1 of 21, including instructions and forms.
© 2023 Montana Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission and Montana Legal Services
Association. Use of this form is restricted to not-for-profit purposes. Last updated 05/23/23.
Important: This Answer form allows you to raise a counterclaim. A counterclaim
is when you ask the court to order your landlord to pay you money for some
reason.

For example, your landlord’s Complaint may ask the court to evict you because
you have not paid rent. But maybe you did not pay the rent because the landlord
has not provided heat for two months, and you want the court to award you money
for the landlord’s failure to provide heat. In this example, your claim about the lack
of heat would be a counterclaim. The law requires you to make this counterclaim
as part of the Answer. If you don’t include the written counterclaim as part of your
Answer, you may not be allowed to ask for it later, even if you file a separate
lawsuit against your landlord.

If you want to make a counterclaim, you can use this form. Also, it’s a good idea
to talk to a lawyer for advice on how to prove your counterclaim at trial.
The Judgment is for the judge to fill in, except for the caption that you will fill in. It
tells you the judge’s decision. When the judge decides your case, the judge may
choose to fill out the Judgment that is part of this packet or the judge may choose
not to use this form and to write out the judge’s own Judgment.