32 YEARS ON MAIN STREET, BOZEMAN
We have known that for 32 years. Ranch sales, land, and businesses built by hand. We help Bozeman families through the big transitions, at the kitchen table, in plain English.
Thirty-two years serving Montana families and business owners
Montana families and business owners, usually between 55 and 70, sitting on a ranch or land sale, a business exit, or a decision about what comes next. If you want to trade or chase whatever is hot, we are not the right fit.
Families weighing a land sale, a conservation easement, or mineral rights, and what it means for the section that has been in the family for generations.
Owners who built a construction company or a small business over decades and now need a plan for the money once the sale closes.
Parents deciding how to pass on land or a business to the next generation without forcing a sale to cover it.
A ranch stays in the family. A widow does not have to figure it all out alone. A builder actually gets to retire. That is the work.
10 questions · 3 minutes
This quiz is educational and not personalized advice.
Your result
The land is not yet set up to pass cleanly, and the part that usually causes trouble is not the paperwork but the conversation. Both are workable, and starting early is what keeps the choice yours.
The intent is clear and the structure is partly there. What is normally missing at this stage is liquidity: the cash that stops a tax bill from forcing a sale.
The structure, the documents and the family conversation are aligned. From here it is a matter of keeping them aligned as the family and the tax rules change.
These are the questions Gallatin County families bring us most often.
Ranch sales, mineral rights, and easements. We help you plan the transaction before it happens, not after.
Thirty years of work becomes one transaction. We help you structure the sale and plan what comes next.
Keeping the ranch in the family, or passing a business down without forcing a sale nobody wanted.
Once the transaction is behind you, we help plan retirement income and giving to the causes you care about.
A note from our founder
We are not stock pickers, and we are not a discount shop. If you want to trade or chase whatever is hot, we are the wrong firm. We go deep with a smaller number of families, and we would rather understate and deliver than promise big.
We started above a hardware store on Main Street.
Wade Hollis, CFP®
Founder & Senior Advisor
September 2026
Founder & Senior Advisor
Opened the firm in 1994 and still sits at most first meetings, especially on ranch and land questions.
Partner, Land & Business Transitions
Leads ranch sales, easements, and business exits, and helps coach the youth rodeo team the firm sponsors.
Tax Planning Lead
Works with your attorney and accountant so a sale is structured correctly before it is ever signed.
Director of Client Relations
The first voice most families hear, and the one who keeps every follow-up from falling through.
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Testimonials shown on this website are from current clients. No compensation was provided for them, and they are not a guarantee of any future result. No material conflicts of interest exist in connection with them.
Send your question by email. It goes straight to the team.
Straight answers to the questions we hear most from ranch families and business owners across Montana.
The headline number on a business sale is not what lands in your account. Between taxes, debt payoff, and deal terms.
Wade Hollis · September 5, 2026
A conservation easement can lower the land's taxable value and bring a deduction, but it also limits what your kids can do with the ground forever.
Wade Hollis · September 5, 2026
Most of what a ranch sale nets your family is decided before the listing goes up. The order of the decisions matters more than the price.
Wade Hollis · September 5, 2026
A ranch sale often triggers capital gains tax, and the amount depends on how long you have owned the land and what you have invested in it over the years. Mineral rights and easements can change the math further. Ellen works with your attorney and accountant to look at the structure before you sign anything, not after.
An easement can reduce what the land is worth on paper, which affects estate planning and any future sale. It can also open up tax benefits, depending on your situation. Families weighing an easement need to understand both sides before they decide, since it changes what the next generation inherits.
That depends on what the sale nets after taxes, what your monthly needs look like, and what else you are counting on, like Social Security or other property. There is no single number that works for every business owner. We build out a real picture with you before you make any decisions.
Come by our office at 18 W Main St, Suite 2, in Bozeman. One of us will call you back within one business day.
Talk through your situation ›Reach the office directly, or write a short note about what's on your mind.
You will hear from one of us within one business day.
