Montana State Veteran's Benefits

The state of Montana provides several veteran benefits. This section offers a brief description of each of the following benefits.

• Housing Benefits
• Financial Assistance Benefits
• Employment Benefits
• Education Benefits
• Other State Veteran Benefits

Montana Veteran Housing Programs

Location and Function of Homes -- Persons Admitted
The institutions at Columbia Falls and in eastern Montana are the Montana veterans' homes, and their primary function is to provide a home and subsistence for veterans.

The department of public health and human services may also admit spouses or surviving spouses of veterans to the homes if space allows.

Certain Disabled or Deceased Veterans' Residences Exempt
A residence, including the lot on which it is built, that is owned and occupied by a veteran or a veteran's spouse is exempt from property taxation if the veteran:

• was killed while on active duty or died as a result of a service-connected disability; or
• if living:
  • was honorably discharged from active service in any branch of the armed services; and
  • is currently rated 100% disabled or is paid at the 100% disabled rate by the U.S. department of veterans affairs for a service-connected disability, as verified by official documentation from the U.S. department of veterans affairs.

Visit the Montana Dept.of Military and Veterans Affairs website for contact information and benefits assistance.

Montana Financial Assistance Benefits

Interment Allowance for Veterans
A sum not to exceed $250 to defer interment expenses must be paid by the veteran's county of residence.

The interment benefits are not available in the case of a veteran whose personal representative or heirs waive the benefits.

Whenever interment is of a resident of a Montana veterans' home, a sum not to exceed $250 to defer interment expenses must be paid by the veteran's county of residence.

Visit the Montana Dept.of Military and Veterans Affairs website for contact information and benefits assistance.

Montana Employment Benefits

Point Preference in Hiring Veterans
Whenever a public employer uses a scored procedure, an applicant for an initial hiring, must have added to the applicant's score the following percentage points of the total possible points that may be granted in the scored procedure:

• 5 percentage points if the applicant is a veteran; and
• 10 percentage points if the applicant is a disabled veteran or an eligible relative.      

A disabled veteran who receives 10 percentage points may not receive an additional 5 percentage points.

Whenever a public employer uses a selection procedure other than a scored procedure, the public employer shall give preference to a disabled veteran, eligible relative, or veteran, in that order, over any non-preferred applicant holding substantially equal qualifications.

Visit the Montana Dept.of Military and Veterans Affairs website for contact information and benefits assistance.

Montana Education Benefits

Charges for Tuition -- Waivers
The regents may prescribe tuition rates, matriculation charges, and incidental fees for students in institutions under their jurisdiction.

The regents may:

• waive nonresident tuition for selected and approved nonresident students, not to exceed at any unit 2% of the full-time equivalent enrollment at that unit during the preceding year for:
  • residents of Montana who served with the armed forces of the United States in any of its wars and who were honorably discharged from military service;
  • children of residents of Montana who served with the armed forces of the United States in any of its wars and who were killed in action or died as a result of injury, disease, or other disability incurred while in the service of the armed forces of the United States;
  • the spouses or children of residents of Montana who have been declared to be prisoners of war or missing in action; or
  • the spouse or children of a Montana national guard member who was killed or died as a result of injury, disease, or other disability incurred in the line of duty while serving on state active duty;

Regents may waive tuition for up to 5,000 credits each academic year in accordance with the Montana National Guard education benefit program established by the department of military affairs. The waivers provided are intended to be available for up to 5 years after the person qualifies.

Visit the Montana Dept.of Military and Veterans Affairs website for contact information and benefits assistance.

Other Montana State Veteran Benefits

Aid by State, County, and Municipal Officers
All state, county, and municipal officers shall render such aid to the board as shall be within their power and consistent with the duties of their respective offices.

Special Plates for Military Personnel, Veterans, and Spouses
Active military personnel, veterans, or the surviving spouse of an eligible veteran, if the spouse has not remarried, may be issued special military or veteran license plates.

Veterans' Cemetery Fee for Special Veteran License Plates
An applicant for special veteran license plates shall pay $10 for each set issued, renewed, or transferred, in addition to any other taxes or fees applicable. Fees collected under this section must be deposited in the state general fund and transferred to the special revenue account for state veterans' cemeteries.

Vehicle Registration Fee and Veterans' Cemetery Fee Waivers
Eligible persons are exempt from the veterans' cemetery fee for two sets of special veteran license plates and all motor vehicle registration fees for two motor vehicles that are not used for commercial purposes.

Visit the Montana Dept.of Military and Veterans Affairs website for contact information and benefits assistance.
 
Veterans' Clubhouse Exemption -- Incompetent Veterans' Trusts
A clubhouse or building erected by or belonging to any society or organization of honorably discharged United States military personnel that is used primarily for educational, fraternal, benevolent, or purely public charitable purposes rather than for gain or profit, together with the personal property necessarily used in the building, is exempt from taxation. The exemption provided for in this section applies even if a business, intended primarily for the use of the members, is required to be open to the public and is operated in a portion of the building.

All property, real or personal, in the possession of legal guardians of incompetent veterans of U.S. military service or minor dependents of the veterans, when the property is funds or derived from funds received from the United States as pension, compensation, insurance, adjusted compensation, or gratuity, is exempt from all taxation as property of the United States while held by the guardian, but not after title passes to the veteran or minor in the minor's own right on account of removal of legal disability.

Hunting and Fishing Licenses
Persons with disabilities are entitled to fish and to hunt game birds, not including turkeys, with only a conservation license if they are residents of Montana not residing in an institution and are certified as disabled as prescribed by departmental rule. A person who has purchased a conservation license and a resident fishing license or game bird license for a particular license year and who is subsequently certified as disabled is entitled to a refund for the fishing license or game bird license previously purchased for that license year. A person who is certified as disabled pursuant to subsection (3) and who was issued a permit to hunt from a vehicle for license year 2000 or a subsequent license year is automatically entitled to a permit to hunt from a vehicle for subsequent license years if the criteria for obtaining a permit does not change.

State Veterans' Cemeteries
The board shall establish and operate state veterans' cemeteries.

A cemetery must be located at Fort William Henry Harrison in Lewis and Clark County, Montana, and at Miles City. A cemetery may be located in Missoula County and in Yellowstone County if funding allows.

Note: Family of the deceased must apply for County/State benefits BEFORE the deceased is interned.

Visit the Montana Dept.of Military and Veterans Affairs website for contact information and benefits assistance.