For the purposes of this article, the following words and phrases shall have the meaning respectively ascribed to them by this section:
(a) Consideration: Such term shall include everything of value included in the actual price paid or to be paid to a transferor or to a third party on behalf of a transferor for the property transferred, including, but not limited to, cash, bonds, stock, documents evidencing monetary value, choses in action, property either real or personal, payment by way of fees, labor or services, instruments of credit, notes, deeds of trust, mortgages, assumption of liability for debt incurred by another and cancellation of a debt. Consideration shall be presumed to be not less than the total full cash value of the property based on the most recent notice of assessment. For the purposes of the farmland transfer tax contained in Section 52-31(d), consideration for the transfer of land previously assessed as farmland shall be presumed to be not less than the total full cash value as computed by the supervisor of assessments at the request of the director of finance, as if the land were not assessed as farmland. These presumptions may be rebutted by clear and convincing evidence. The director may make a final determination of consideration pursuant to Section 52-36 of the Code.
(b) Transfer: The acts of the parties, or act or operation of law, by which:
(1) The title to property or a leasehold interest in property is conveyed from a person, firm, corporation, legal entity, or government agency to another; or
(2) Real property subject to Section 52-31 is transferred to a government agency on the assessment records and removed from the tax rolls under the laws of eminent domain.
(c) Act or operation of law: Any act by which title to or an interest in property is transferred by law, or judicial or administrative action including, but not limited to, a taking under the power of eminent domain or the acquisition of property for a public purpose. (Mont. Co. Code 1965, § 84-24; 1983 L.M.C., ch. 37, § 2; 1985 L.M.C., ch. 58, § 1; 2016 L.M.C., ch. 7, § 2.)
Editor’s note—Section 2 of 1985 L.M.C., ch. 58, which amended subsections (b) and (c) of this section, reads as follows: “Sec. 2. Scope of Act. This act applies to real property that:
(1) Is assessed on the basis of farm or agricultural use; and
(2) On or after July 1, 1984, is transferred to a government agency on the assessment records and removed from the tax rolls under the laws of eminent domain.”