Mont. R. App. P. 10

(1) Filing.

(a) Generally. Papers required or permitted to be filed must be placed in the

custody of the clerk of the supreme court within the time fixed for filing.

Filing may be accomplished by mail addressed to the clerk of the supreme

court, but filing shall not be timely unless the papers are actually received

within the time fixed for filing.

(b) Facsimile filing. Procedural motions and notices of appeal and cross-appeal,

substantially complying with Form 1 or 2 in the Appendix of Forms, may be

filed by facsimile between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. on business days. A

facsimile shall not be timely filed unless it is actually received by the clerk

of the supreme court within the time fixed for filing of the document. Any

document filed by facsimile shall contain a statement of the date and time of

the facsimile filing in the certificate of proof of service prescribed in section

(4) of this rule. The facsimile must be filed by the clerk of the supreme court.

(c) A party to an appeal or original proceeding who is represented by counsel

may not file pleadings, motions, or documents on the party’s own behalf,

except that a party may file a motion for substitution or removal of counsel.

(2) Service of all papers required. Copies of all papers, including any transcript, filed

by any party and not required by these rules to be served by the clerk of the supreme

court shall, at or before the time of filing, be served by the party on all other parties

to the appeal or review. Service on a party represented by counsel shall be made on

counsel. In criminal cases appealed by the defendant and in appeals relating to

involuntary commitment and proceedings regarding abused or neglected children,

all briefs, motions, and other papers, not including transcripts, shall be served on

both the county attorney and the attorney general. In such cases, transcripts shall

be served on the attorney general only, and an electronic copy of filed transcripts

will be made available to the county attorney at no cost by the court reporter upon

request.

(3) Manner of service. Service may be made personally or by mail. Personal service

includes delivery of the copy to a clerk or other responsible person at the office of

counsel. Service by mail is complete on mailing.

(4) Proof of service. Papers presented for filing shall contain a certificate of service in

the form of a statement of the date and manner of service and of the names and

addresses of the persons served, certified by the person who made service. Proof of

service may appear on or be affixed to the papers filed. The clerk of the supreme

court may permit papers to be filed without a certificate of service but shall require

the certificate to be filed within 5 business days.

(5) Number of copies to be filed. A signed original and 7 copies of all motions (other

than motions for extension of time), petitions for rehearing, and the answers or

responses thereto, shall be filed with the clerk of the supreme court unless otherwise

ordered by the court. The original only of motions for extension of time shall be

filed. The number of copies of transcripts shall be in accordance with rule 8(4)(b)

and the number of copies of briefs shall be in accordance with rule 13(2). At the

time of filing an uncontested procedural motion, counsel shall present a proposed

order granting the relief requested, together with sufficient copies for service upon

all parties, as well as stamped envelopes addressed to the same.

(6) Use of initials for parties in certain proceedings. In any proceeding regarding

abused or neglected children under Title 41, Chapter 3, or in any proceeding under

Title 40, Chapter 6, part 1 (Uniform Parentage Act); Title 41, Chapter 5 (Youth

Court Act); Title 42 (Adoption); Title 52, Chapter 3, part 8 (Montana Elder and

Persons With Developmental Disabilities Abuse Prevention Act); Title 53, Chapter

20 (Developmental Disabilities); Chapter 21 (Mentally Ill); or Chapter 24

(Alcoholism and Drug Dependence); or Title 72, Chapter 5, part 3 (Guardians of

Incapacitated Persons), only the initials of the child, parent(s), or individual

party(ies), as the case may be, may be used in all filings, unless otherwise provided

by law.

(7) Redaction of confidential personal information.

(a) Confidential personal information includes complete social security

numbers, complete financial account and taxpayer identification numbers,

full birth dates of any person, and information that is not to be accessible to

the public pursuant to state or federal law.

(b) Confidential personal information shall be redacted from documents filed

with the clerk of the supreme court by the party who files the document. The

original document without redaction of confidential personal information

shall be filed with the clerk and remain under seal absent a request to obtain

access granted under the Rules for Privacy and Public Access to Court

Records in Montana or further order of the supreme court.

(c) Exemptions from the redaction requirement. The redaction requirement

does not apply to the following:

(i) a financial account number that identifies the property allegedly

subject to forfeiture in a forfeiture proceeding;

(ii) the record of an administrative or agency proceeding;

(iii) the record of a court or tribunal, if that record was not subject to the

redaction requirement when originally filed; and

(iv) a filing made under seal.

(d) Filings made under seal. The court may order that a filing be made under

seal without redaction. The court may later unseal the filing or order the

person who made the filing to file a redacted version for the public record.

(e) Protective orders. For good cause, the court may by order in a case:

(i) require redaction of additional information;

(ii) limit or prohibit a nonparty’s remote electronic access to a document

filed with the court; or

(iii) provide other guidance regarding privacy and access consistent with

the Rules for Privacy and Public Access to Court Records in Montana.

(f) Option for filing a reference list. A filing that contains redacted

information may be filed together with a reference list that identifies each

item of redacted information and specifies an appropriate identifier that

uniquely corresponds to each item listed. The list must be filed under seal

and may be amended as of right. Any reference in the case to a listed

identifier will be construed to refer to the corresponding item of information.

(g) Appendices. Because copies of documents included in appendices to briefs

are not published and are solely for the supreme court’s use, confidential

personal information appearing in appendices need not be redacted.

(h) Non-conforming documents.

(i) Waiver. A person waives the protection of rule 10(7) as to the person’s

own information by filing it without redaction and not under seal.

(ii) Sanctions. If a party fails to comply with this rule, the court on motion

of another party or its own motion, may order the pleading or other

document to be reformed. If the order is not obeyed, the court may

order the document stricken.