MT 13th Judicial District (Yellowstone County): Montana 13th Judicial District Court (Yel…

What the rule requires

Chief Judge Thomas Pardy signed Yellowstone County’s current Local Rules on January 1, 2026, with an in-force date of the same day. Rule 35 governs generative AI use in any filed document.

The verbatim rule text is short and absolute:

If an attorney for a party or a self-represented party has used generative Artificial Intelligence (hereafter “AI”) in the preparation of any document filed with the 13th Judicial District Court, they MUST, identify the type of AI used and CERTIFY every citation to the law or record in the filing has been verified as accurate.

1. Trigger. Any use of generative AI in the preparation of any document filed with the 13th Judicial District Court.
2. Required disclosure. Identification of the type of AI used. The rule does not require a separately labeled disclosure block, but the type of AI must appear in the filing.
3. Required certification. Every citation to law or to the record has been verified as accurate. The certification reaches both legal authority and record citations, which is broader than rules that focus only on case citations.
4. Applies to both attorneys and self-represented parties. Both populations bear the disclosure-and-certification duty.
5. Sanctions framework. Rule 35 itself does not enumerate sanctions; the court’s general authority under the Montana Rules of Civil Procedure (including Rule 11) and inherent supervisory authority over filings supplies the consequences toolkit.

Context

The 13th Judicial District covers Yellowstone County (Billings), Montana’s largest urban court. Together with the 4th Judicial District (Missoula) Local Rule 3(G), Rule 35 makes two of Montana’s 22 judicial districts jurisdictions in which AI disclosure is a binding local-rule obligation. The Montana Supreme Court has not adopted a statewide AI rule, and the State Bar of Montana has not issued a formal ethics opinion on AI use as of April 2026.

The 13th District version of the disclosure rule is more compact than Missoula’s. Where 4th District Rule 3(G) adds an absence-of-AI presumption (a filing without certification is presumed to have been prepared without AI) and a definition of “generative artificial intelligence,” 13th District Rule 35 simply imposes the disclose-and-certify duty.

Practitioner workflow

For 13th Judicial District matters, the disclosure should appear on the face of any filing prepared with generative AI: name the tool, certify that every citation to law and to the record has been verified. Firms practicing in both Billings and Missoula should adopt a single AI-disclosure block that satisfies both rules and that defaults to the more demanding 4th District format (named tool, manner of use, scope of certification).

Scope

13th Judicial District only (Yellowstone County, Billings). For Missoula matters, see 4th Judicial District Local Rule 3(G). For federal matters in Montana, the District of Montana has not adopted a court-wide AI standing order; Judge Donald W. Molloy imposes a pro hac vice condition prohibiting out-of-state counsel from using AI drafting tools.

Primary source

Yellowstone County Local Rules (PDF, see Rule 35 at internal page 22): https://www.yellowstonecountymt.gov/clerk_court/LocalRules.pdf