Allowed within statutory limits

Non-compete law in Montana

Montana's general statute voids, 'to that extent', any contract restraining a person from a lawful profession, trade or business, with two exceptions: the seller of a business's goodwill (limited to the city or county of the principal office and adjacent areas) and partners on dissolution. Separately, since 2023 and expanded by three 2025 acts, a contract with a listed health care provider (all physicians, psychologists, naturopathic physicians, licensed social workers, professional and addiction counselors, marriage and family therapists, behavioral health peer support specialists, registered and advanced practice nurses, and physician assistants) may not restrict post-employment practice in any geographic area or period or restrict treating or soliciting current patients, except on the sale of a practice or for declining-balance repayment of physician advances.

Last verified · confidence high. Clauseworthy is not a law firm and does not give legal advice.

Employee non-competes
Only within the statute's conditions
Pay floor
None in the statute
Duration
No statutory cap for non-health-care employees; the statute declares restraints void 'to that extent' (28-2-703) apart from the exceptions. How far courts allow a partial restraint is case law and was not verified from an official source.

Exceptions and special rules

  • Sale of a business: the statute allows a non-compete given by a seller.
  • Seller of the goodwill of a business may agree not to carry on a similar business in the city where the principal office is located, that county, a city in an adjacent county, any adjacent county, or a combination, so long as the buyer or its successor carries on a like business there (28-2-704).
  • Partners may, on dissolution, agree that one or more may not carry on a similar business within the same areas (28-2-705).
  • Health care providers listed in 28-2-724(2): sale and purchase of a practice, and declining-balance repayment provisions (loans, relocation, signing bonus, education and tuition) for physicians, are not restricted by the section (28-2-724(3)).
  • Health care providers: physician (Title 37 ch. 3), psychologist, naturopathic physician, social worker, professional counselor, addiction counselor, marriage and family therapist, behavioral health peer support specialist, registered professional nurse or advanced practice registered nurse, physician assistant. A contract creating the terms of employment, partnership or other professional relationship may not restrict, after termination, the provider's right to (a) practice or provide licensed services in any geographic area and for any period, (b) treat, advise or consult with, or establish a provider-patient relationship with, any current patient of the employer or partnership, or (c) solicit or seek to establish a relationship with such a patient. Not applicable to the sale and purchase of a practice, or to physician payback provisions that decrease over time (28-2-724). (Mont. Code Ann. 28-2-724 (2025))

Non-solicitation clauses

For listed health care providers, restrictions on soliciting or establishing a relationship with current patients are barred (28-2-724(1)(c)). For other workers there is no statutory non-solicit rule beyond the general 'void to that extent' clause of 28-2-703.

Which agreements it covers

28-2-724: nurses, naturopathic physicians, physician assistants and the social-work/counseling group were added by 2025 HB 198 (Ch. 131), effective on passage and approval and applying to contracts made or renewed on or after that date; extension to all physicians by 2025 HB 620 (Ch. 698), effective and applicable to contracts made or renewed on or after January 1, 2026; HB 109 (Ch. 104) corrected license-title citations. 2026-01-01 (all physicians); date of approval of HB 198, 2025 (nurses, PAs, naturopaths; exact date not stated in the enrolled copy)

Recent changes

  • 2026-01-01. 2025 HB 620 (Ch. 698) extends 28-2-724 to physicians of all specialties (previously psychiatrists and addiction medicine physicians) and adds the physician payback exception; applies to contracts made or renewed on or after this date. Source
  • 2025. 2025 HB 198 (Ch. 131) adds naturopathic physicians, registered professional nurses, advanced practice registered nurses and physician assistants to 28-2-724; effective on passage and approval (a secondary reports April 16, 2025). Source
  • 2025. 2025 HB 109 (Ch. 104), an errata bill, corrected the Title 37 chapter citations for social workers, counselors, therapists and peer support specialists in 28-2-724. Source
  • 2023. 28-2-724 enacted by Ch. 479, Laws of 2023 (per the Code's history line; the 2023 session law was not fetched). Source

Primary sources

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