The 1977 Legislature created the Court Administrator's Office to assist the Supreme Court with its growing administrative duties.

Under the direction of the Supreme Court, the court administrator is charged with performing the following duties:

(1) prepare and present judicial budget requests to the legislature, including the costs of the state-funded district court program;

(2) collect, compile, and report statistical and other data relating to the business transacted by the courts and provide the information to the legislature on request;

(3) report annually to the law and justice interim committee and at the beginning of each regular legislative session report to the house appropriations subcommittee that considers general government on the status of development and procurement of information technology within the judicial branch, including any changes in the judicial branch information technology strategic plan and any problems encountered in deploying appropriate information technology within the judicial branch. The court administrator shall, to the extent possible, provide that current and future applications are coordinated and compatible with the standards and goals of the executive branch as expressed in the state strategic information technology plan provided for in 2-17-521.

(4) recommend to the supreme court improvements in the judiciary;

(5) administer legal assistance for indigent victims of domestic violence, as provided in 3-2-714;

(6) administer state funding for district courts, as provided in chapter 5, part 9;

(7) administer the judicial branch personnel plan; and

(8) perform other duties that the supreme court may assign.

The Office of the Court Administrator is organized into a Court Services, a Budget and Finance, and an Information Technology division.

I trust that you will find this information to be helpful in understanding the state level of administration of Justice in Montana.