Emancipation Forms

If you want to file for emancipation, you need to fill out a petition asking the court to emancipate you, along with filling out the top section of the order and notice forms for the judge to sign. These forms can be found by clicking the green "View External Resource" button at the top of this page.

(Optional) If you can't afford to pay the court filing fee, you can ask the judge to allow you to file your paperwork without having to pay the fee. We have a fee waiver form you can fill out. 

Make 2 copies of the forms so that you have 3 sets of forms total. 

• The Clerk of Court will keep the original set of forms
• One copy is for you to keep in a safe place
• The other copy you will serve on your parents* 

*If your parents are divorced, you will need one more copy so that you can serve them both. 

Bring your 3 sets of forms to the Clerk of District Court’s office in your county courthouse. Here is a checklist to make sure you have everything you need:

• Petition for Limited Emancipation of a Minor (begins on page 7
• (Optional*) Consent to Limited Emancipation of a Minor *only if your parents signed this form 
• Order Setting Hearing 
• Notice of Hearing
• (Optional) Fee Waiver
• An envelope that you have self-addressed and stamped.  Be sure to ask the Clerk of Court to mail two conformed copies of the Order Setting Hearing and Notice of Hearing to you after the judge signs it.  *If you do not have an approved fee waiver (aka an Order of Inability to Pay) from the judge, you may be charged a fee for these copies.

Give your copies to the Clerk of District Court and ask them to stamp them as “Filed”.  You will keep one set in a safe place, you will serve your parents with the other set.  

Serve means sending the papers you filed with the court in a special way. If your parents are divorced or separated, you have to serve them both.

You will complete this step once you have received the Order Setting Hearing and Notice of Hearing in the mail. Montana law says that your parents need to be served at least 10 days before the hearing. You will serve them a copy of these documents:

• Petition for Limited Emancipation of a Minor 
• Consent to Limited Emancipation of Minor form 
• Notice of Hearing. 

There are three ways to serve: 

• Service by Sheriff or private process server, 
• Service through Notice and Acknowledgement, or 
• Service by Publication. 

The way you serve your parents depends on your situation and your relationship. 

Service by Sheriff or a private process server:

You need to have the Sheriff in the county where your parents live serve your documents.  The Sheriff will need:

• One copy of the Consent to Limited Emancipation of Minor form and the Notice of Hearing
• Request for Sheriff to Serve Documents (download MP 401)

If the Judge signed a fee waiver order, the Sheriff will serve your documents for free.  Without a fee waiver, you will have to pay the Sheriff to serve the documents.  Private process servers always charge a fee.  Usually a private process server costs more than the Sheriff.  A private process server usually needs the same documents as the Sheriff.  If you use a private process server, make sure you ask what documents they need.

Service through Notice and Acknowledgement:

Notice and Acknowledgement means that you mail or hand deliver the documents to your parents.  Then your parents sign a form to say they got the documents and give it back to you.  If your parents do not sign the form and give it back, you must serve another way.  To serve by Notice and Acknowledgement you mail or hand deliver: 

• Copies of the first set of documents
• Notice and Acknowledgment of Service (download MP 403.1)
• Acknowledgement of Service (download MP 403.2)
  • Your parents need to return the signed Acknowledgement to you. You must file it with the Clerk of District Court after your parents sign it. 

Service by Publication:

You can only serve by publication after you have made good faith efforts to serve your parents another way.  Good faith efforts means you asked the Sheriff in the county where your parents were living to serve them and the Sheriff could not find them.  The court also expects you to contact friends and family of your parents to try and find them.  Service by Publication requires an extra set of documents. Service by Publication also involves the extra cost of publishing in a newspaper.  To ask the court for permission to serve by publication you will need:

• Request for Order Granting Service of Summons by Publication (download MP 402.1)
• Order for Service of Summons by Publication (download MP 402.2)
• Summons for Publication (download MP 402.3)

You have to wait for the Court to approve your request by signing the Order allowing Service by Publication.

Still unsure about which way will work best for you? Here is a video about the different ways to serve your parents:

After your parents have been served with the emancipation papers, the person who served the papers must complete the Proof of Service Form:

Normally, this person will file the Proof of Service and return a copy to you, but you should talk about this with the person beforehand. If your parent signed the Notice and Acknowledgement, the Acknowledgment is your Proof of Service.

• The Self-Help Law Center may be able to point you in the right direction. There are Self-Help Law Centers located throughout the state to assist you on a walk-in or appointment basis, and traveling appointments are available at other courthouses. Self-Help staff are not lawyers and cannot provide legal advice, but they can provide information about the court process and can answer many questions, as well as review your forms for completeness. 
• Montana Legal Services Association (MLSA) provides free civil, non-criminal legal help to eligible clients. Learn more about how to apply for free legal help in Montana.