Montana Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A Montana licensee is served with a notice charging unprofessional conduct. To contest the charge, the licensee must submit a written request for a hearing that reaches the department within:

• a.10 days after receipt of the notice
• b.21 days after receipt of the notice✓
• c.45 days after receipt of the notice
• d.60 days after receipt of the notice

The window is set by 37-1-309(2), MCA: a request for a hearing must be in writing and received in the offices of the department within 21 days after the licensee's receipt of the notice, and failure to request a hearing constitutes a default on the charges, after which the board may decide the case on the facts available to it. The shorter period belongs to a different procedure — a trust-account citation under 37-51-324(5) gives 5 business days to pay or dispute — and reading that deadline across to a disciplinary notice loses the licensee two weeks of the time the statute actually allows. The longer periods track other timetables in the licensing scheme, such as the 45 days a board has under 37-1-307(1)(e) to grant or deny a complete application and the 60 days a licensee gets under 37-1-321(2) to cure a deficiency before an administrative suspension; neither governs a request for a contested-case hearing. Once a hearing is held, Title 2, chapter 4 governs the proceeding, and a person disciplined by the board may appeal to district court under 37-1-313(1).

After finding unprofessional conduct by a Montana real estate licensee, the board may impose a fine of no more than:

• a.$1,000 for each violation
• b.$2,500 for each violation
• c.$5,000 for each violation✓
• d.$10,000 for each violation

The sanction menu is at 37-1-312(1), MCA, and subsection (1)(g) authorizes 'payment of a fine not to exceed $5,000 for each violation,' with the fines deposited in the state general fund. The cap is per violation rather than per case, so a course of conduct producing several violations can produce several fines. The other figures are real Montana numbers attached to other things: $1,000 is the civil fine for a property manager's trust-account citation under 37-56-106(3), $2,500 is the maximum per-claim deductible on the board's group professional liability policy under 37-51-325(4)(b)(iii), and $10,000 is the baseline maximum deductible for a firm policy under 37-51-325(7)(c). None of them is the disciplinary fine ceiling. Alongside a fine the board may revoke or suspend the license, impose probation for a period not to exceed 3 years, restrict the practice, require remedial education, or censure the licensee.