Montana National Guard Death Benefit for Death on State Duty

Section 10-1-1201 requires the Department of Administration, on certification by the Department of Military Affairs, to pay $50,000 by state warrant to the beneficiary of a National Guard member who dies in the line of duty performed under state military duty orders. The certification has to establish three things: that the member died in the line of duty performed under Article VI, section 13 of the Montana Constitution or while on state duty for special work under 10-1-505(2); that at the time of death the member was being paid or was to be paid for the military service from state and not federal military funds; and who the beneficiary is. The state-funds condition is the whole of the eligibility test in practice. A Montana Guard member killed on a federal Title 10 deployment was paid from federal funds, so this benefit does not reach them; their family is looking at the federal death gratuity and Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance instead. This is the state's own benefit for the state's own duty, which in Montana means floods, fires, searches, cybersecurity operations and the Youth Challenge program. There is no designation form. Subsection (3) fixes the order: the surviving spouse; if none, the surviving children in equal shares; if none, the member's survivors under Title 72 as if the member had died intestate. A Guard member cannot name someone else for this payment. Montana does not tax it. Section 15-30-2120(3)(c)(iii) subtracts the amount received under 10-1-1201 from federal taxable income, so the $50,000 arrives whole as far as Montana income tax is concerned. The same death on state duty also opens the Montana University System tuition waiver for the surviving spouse or child.