How long do we have to sue on this contract in Montana, and can we shorten that period by agreement?
It depends on the type of contract, and there is a live currency conflict on the written-contract figure that this rule flags rather than resolves. For an ordinary WRITTEN contract, § 27-2-202(1), MCA, as published here, reads: “The period prescribed for the commencement of an action on any contract, covenant, obligation, or liability founded on an instrument in writing is within 6 years.” For an ORAL contract, § 27-2-202(2) sets 5 years, confirmed in Mogan v. Cargill, Inc.: “The period prescribed for the commencement of an action upon a contract, account, or promise not founded on an instrument in writing is within 5 years.” For a contract for the SALE OF GOODS, the UCC period controls instead and is shorter: “An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within 4 years after the cause of action has accrued. By the original agreement the parties may reduce the period of limitation to not less than 1 year but may not extend it” (§ 30-2-725(1), MCA), so parties CAN shorten (never lengthen) the sale-of- goods period by agreement, down to a 1-year floor. Two further periods a contract claim can land on. For “an obligation or liability, other than a contract, account, or promise, not founded on an instrument in writing” the period is 3 years (§ 27-2-202(3)), and a tort claim on “a liability not founded on an instrument in writing” is also 3 years (§ 27-2-204(1)), which is the period that disposed of the warranty claims in the case next described. Bennett v. Dow Chemical Co. names the three contract periods side by side, but only in the appellant's argument as the Court recited it (that one of the longer contract limitation periods, §§ 27-2-202(2), 27-2-202(1) or 30-2-725, MCA, should apply to his breach-of-warranty claims instead of the tort statute of limitations), and the Court rejected it: "We therefore affirm the District Court's conclusion that appellant's breach of warranty claims are barred by the three-year tort statute of limitations." Bennett is authority that a warranty claim sounding in tort gets the tort period, not that § 30-2-725 displaces the general contract periods. One revival is worth knowing: where an action brought in time “is so terminated as to leave available a remedy by another action for the same breach”, § 30-2-725(3) allows the second action “within 6 months after the termination of the first action”, unless the first ended by voluntary discontinuance or by dismissal for failure to prosecute.
The trap
STOP AND FLAG BEFORE RELYING ON THE 6-YEAR FIGURE: a Montana Supreme Court opinion decided 2025-07-29, Sloway Cabin v. Extreme, quotes the SAME subsection differently: “‘The period prescribed for the commencement of an action on any contract, covenant, obligation, or liability founded on an instrument in writing is within 8 years.’ Section 27-2-202(1), MCA.” That is not a paraphrase: it is the identical sentence structure with a different number. This rule cannot tell you which figure currently governs: either the statutory text used here is stale relative to a legislative amendment that changed 8 years to 6 (or vice versa), or Sloway Cabin's quotation reflects the version of § 27-2-202(1) that was in force when that case's cause of action accrued rather than the version in force when the opinion issued, or one of the two sources contains an error. NO FABRICATION: this rule does not guess which is right. Sloway Cabin is not simply reprinting a number either: in its own analysis, outside the quotation, the Court says the suit was filed “well within the eight-year statute of limitations for actions based on written covenants.” Before advising a client on a written-contract deadline anywhere near either boundary, confirm the currently effective text of § 27-2-202(1) directly with the Montana Code Annotated. The published § 27-2-202 gives no help from its own face: it carries no amendment note and no effective-date marker. That is not because Montana never prints one. Of the 44,609 published Montana statute sections, 144 carry a parenthetical effective-date marker in their own text (§ 27-2-204, cited above, publishes a “(Temporary)” version and an “(Effective October 1, 2026)” version in the same entry), and none uses a square-bracket marker. § 27-2-202 is simply not one of the 144, so the conflict cannot be resolved from the statute text as published. Separately, § 30-2-725(2) starts the clock at TENDER OF DELIVERY for a warranty breach regardless of when the buyer actually discovers the problem, “except that where a warranty explicitly extends to future performance of the goods and discovery of the breach must await the time of such performance the cause of action accrues when the breach is or should have been discovered.”
13 authorities
- statuteMont. Code Ann. § 27-2-202enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
The period prescribed for the commencement of an action on any contract, covenant, obligation, or liability founded on an instrument in writing is within 6 years.
- statuteMont. Code Ann. § 27-2-202enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
The period prescribed for the commencement of an action on a contract, account, or promise not founded on an instrument in writing is within 5 years.
- statuteMont. Code Ann. § 30-2-725enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within 4 years after the cause of action has accrued. By the original agreement the parties may reduce the period of limitation to not less than 1 year but may not extend it.
The words that state the rule
“The period prescribed for the commencement of an action on any contract, covenant, obligation, or liability founded on an instrument in writing is within 8 years.” Section 27-2-202(1), MCA.
The words that state the rule
statute of limitations in contracts for sale. (1) An action for breach of any contract for sale must be commenced within 4 years after the cause of action has accrued. . . . Section 30-2-725(1), MCA.
- caseNo. 85-183 (Mont. Feb. 6, 1986)Bennett v. Dow Chemical Co.Mont.decided 1986
The words that state the rule
Appellant then contends that one of the longer contract statute of limitations, SS 27-2-202 (2), 27-2-202 (1), or 30-2-725, MCk, instead of the tort statute of limitations should apply to his brea.ch of warranty claims.
- caseNo. 85-183 (Mont. Feb. 6, 1986)Bennett v. Dow Chemical Co.Mont.decided 1986
The words that state the rule
We therefore affirm the District Court's conclusion that appellant's breach of warranty claims are barred by the three-year tort statute of limitations.
The words that state the rule
The period prescribed for the commencement of an action upon a contract, account, or promise not founded on an instrument in writing is within 5 years.
- statuteMont. Code Ann. § 30-2-725enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
A cause of action accrues when the breach occurs, regardless of the aggrieved party's lack of knowledge of the breach. A breach of warranty occurs when tender of delivery is made, except that where a warranty explicitly extends to future performance of the goods and discovery of the breach must await the time of such performance the cause of action accrues when the breach is or should have been discovered.
- statuteMont. Code Ann. § 27-2-202enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
The period prescribed for the commencement of an action on an obligation or liability, other than a contract, account, or promise, not founded on an instrument in writing is within 3 years.
- statuteMont. Code Ann. § 30-2-725enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
Where an action commenced within the time limited by subsection (1) is so terminated as to leave available a remedy by another action for the same breach such other action may be commenced after the expiration of the time limited and within 6 months after the termination of the first action unless the termination resulted from voluntary discontinuance or from dismissal for failure or neglect to prosecute.
- statuteMont. Code Ann. § 27-2-204enactment date not established
The words that state the rule
27-2-204 . (Effective October 1, 2026) Tort actions -- general and personal injury. (1) Except as provided in 27-2-216 and 27-2-219 , the period prescribed for the commencement of an action on a liability not founded on an instrument in writing is within 3 years.
The words that state the rule
Sloway then followed up by filing suit approximately six months after the Extremes took title to Tract 1-A, well within the eight-year statute of limitations for actions based on written covenants
“Defective” means that reading found something to correct. What you are reading is the rule as it stands after that reading.