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Office: Carter County Disaster & Emergency Services – confirm current phone via cartercountymt.gov.
Sheriff: Carter County Sheriff’s Office – 214 East Park Street, PO Box 323, Ekalaka, MT 59324 | (406) 775-8743 | Fax: (406) 775-8750; Sheriff Neil Kittelmann, who also serves as Coroner and County Fire Warden. A small department (3 full-time, 1 part-time sworn officers).
Notes: For an active emergency, call 911.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: MT-7 serves Ekalaka, the county seat, in extreme southeastern Montana, about 35 miles south of Baker and 70 miles north of Alzada.
Notes: Carter County, established 1917 and named for Thomas Henry Carter (Montana’s first congressman), is Montana’s seventh-least-populous county, with roughly 1,400 residents across 3,348 square miles. Ekalaka itself has fewer than 400 residents.
Business & Permits
BUILDING & PERMITS
Office: Carter County – confirm current phone via cartercountymt.gov.
Notes: Carter County is genuinely home to the Carter County Museum, Montana’s first county museum and the first in the state to display dinosaur fossils (founded 1936, housed in a former automotive garage). Ekalaka has been a center of major dinosaur discoveries for over 100 years, including a nearly complete Edmontosaurus annectens skeleton, a complete Triceratops skull, the only known Hell Creek Formation pterosaur specimen, and one of the most complete known juvenile T. rex specimens; the museum is the official repository for paleontological material from nearby Medicine Rocks State Park. The extinct prehistoric bird species Magnusavis ekalakaensis was named for the town. Medicine Rocks State Park, 11 miles north of Ekalaka, features more than 100 sandstone pillars 60-80 feet tall containing Native American rock art. The First National Bank of Ekalaka building, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015, was the last historic site added in any of Montana’s 56 counties.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
Office: Carter County Veterans Service – confirm current contact via cartercountymt.gov.
Federal: VA Montana Health Care System (Fort Harrison/Helena, accessible west).
Libraries
LIBRARIES
Ekalaka Public Library – 105 N Main Street, PO Box 482, Ekalaka, MT 59324 | (406) 775-6336 | Hours: Tue-Fri 11 AM-5 PM, closed Sat-Mon and legal holidays.
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: The Carter County Museum, Medicine Rocks State Park, and Camp Needmore (a county-run recreation facility) are the county’s premier attractions. The annual Dino Shindig, held the last weekend in July, gathers paleontologists and dinosaur enthusiasts for lectures, field expeditions, and community events, and has been named Event of the Year by the Montana Office of Tourism.
Notes: The genuine dinosaur paleontology heritage of Ekalaka and the Carter County Museum is one of the most distinctive local facts covered in this project.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
Appraisal/Parcel Search: Carter County – confirm current contact via cartercountymt.gov.
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Town of Ekalaka requires dog licensing by end of January each year ($5 neutered/spayed, $25 unneutered/unspayed); confirm current countywide animal control arrangements via cartercountymt.gov or the Carter County Sheriff’s Office, (406) 775-8743.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Office: Carter County – confirm current contact via cartercountymt.gov.
NOTES: Carter County is the sixth and final county in the Montana v2 A+ sourced redo’s first batch – closing out this batch. The genuine dinosaur paleontology heritage of the Carter County Museum, Montana’s first county museum, is a distinctive local fact. All contact information above was sourced via web search as of early August 2026 and should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit, deadline-sensitive filing, or emergency-adjacent decision.
About Carter County County
Carter County is Montana’s southeastern badlands and dinosaur fossil county – Medicine Rocks’ Lakota sacred sandstone formations and the Carter County Museum’s remarkable Hell Creek Formation dinosaur collection define a remote community where Ekalaka serves the county’s ranching and fossil-hunting communities near the Dakotas.
Ekalaka (the county seat, population ~400) is Carter County’s governmental hub, a remote southeast Montana ranching community whose Medicine Rocks, dinosaur museum, and cattle ranching economy anchor its identity as Montana’s most isolated county seat.
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Carter County Assessor at 214 Park Street, Ekalaka, MT 59324, phone 406-775-8749. MT assessed at market value.
Courts & Legal
Carter County District Court at 214 Park Street, Ekalaka, MT 59324, phone 406-775-8749, handles probate.
Marriage & Vital Records
Marriage licenses, divorce records, and birth & death certificates are handled by the following office(s):
CLERK AND RECORDER
214 Park St., Ekalaka, MT 59324
(406) 775-8749
COUNTY CLERK (Elections)
214 Park St., Ekalaka, MT 59324
(406) 775-8749
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Carter County Clerk of District Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Carter County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Carter County Clerk of District Court, Probate Division 214 Park Street, Ekalaka, MT 59324 (406) 775-8714 Carter County is in Montana’s southeastern corner, seated in Ekalaka.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Montana adopted the Uniform Probate Code (UPC), codified at Title 72 of the Montana Code Annotated (MCA). Probate is handled by the District Court in the county where the decedent resided.
Collection of Personal Property by Affidavit (MCA § 72-3-1101) – available when the value of the probate estate, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed $100,000. At least 30 days must have passed since the death, and no application or petition for appointment of a personal representative may be pending or granted anywhere. The affiant presents the sworn, notarized affidavit (with a certified death certificate) directly to whoever holds the property to collect it – skipping probate court entirely. Must be used within 3 years of death.
Summary Administration – a streamlined court process for estates valued at $100,000 or less; unlike the affidavit procedure, this still goes through the court, just with reduced formality.
Informal Probate – the most common path for uncontested estates. An application can be made to the clerk of district court no sooner than 120 hours (5 days) after death, with minimal court involvement.
Formal Probate – required when there’s no will, when a will’s validity is contested, or when there’s disagreement over the personal representative or distribution. Handled by a district court judge.
Supervised Administration – formal probate with ongoing court oversight of the personal representative.
Step 2: filing for formal or informal probate
File an application (informal) or petition (formal) with the Clerk of District Court in the county where the decedent resided, no sooner than 120 hours after death.
The court or clerk appoints the personal representative and issues Letters Testamentary or Letters of Administration.
The personal representative publishes notice to creditors and gives direct notice to known creditors. Creditors generally have 4 months from the date of first publication to file claims.
The personal representative inventories and appraises the estate’s assets.
After debts, taxes, and expenses are paid and the creditor claim period expires, the personal representative distributes the remaining assets and closes the estate.
What it costs
Montana does not set statutory percentage-based fees; personal representative and attorney fees are generally “reasonable compensation” based on time and complexity.
Montana has no state estate tax and no state inheritance tax. Only the federal estate tax could apply, and only to very large estates.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
214 Park St., Ekalaka, MT 59324
(406) 775-8634
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
COUNTY CLERK (Elections)
214 Park St., Ekalaka, MT 59324
(406) 775-8749
ELECTIONS
214 Park St., Ekalaka, MT 59324
(406) 775-8749
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
MT DPHHS — Carter
(406) 775-8749
Dahl Memorial Healthcare
dahlmemorial.com (Ekalaka — quality critical access hospital; very remote service)
Public Health Information
PUBLIC HEALTH
Office: Carter County Public Health – confirm current contact via cartercountymt.gov.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Ekalaka
Population: 1,300
Area: 3,340 sq mi
Established: 1917
Public Records
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Search public records for Carter County County residents.
