32
Years in Bozeman
$450M
Assets under management
9
People
A lot of the families we work with come to us after one specific event: a couple who ranched outside Livingston for decades just sold to a conservation buyer, and the number on the closing statement is bigger than anything they have ever managed. That is exactly the family this firm was built around.
A ranch sale turns decades of equity into a number you can move, spend, or leave behind. We help you decide what each dollar is for before it sits in an account.
Timing, structure, and how a sale is reported all change the outcome. Our tax planning lead works with your attorney and accountant before the sale closes, not after.
We have sat with Montana families through conservation easements, mineral rights, and land sales for 32 years. This is the work we know best.
How We Work Through a Ranch Sale
Most of what determines the tax bill on a ranch sale gets decided months before closing, not after. Here is the order we work through it in.
We start with what's actually being sold: the acreage, the mineral rights, the water rights, and whether the buyer is a conservation group, a developer, or a neighboring rancher. Each changes the picture.
How a sale is structured, in one payment or over several years, as land or as an easement, changes what you owe and when. We work through this with your attorney and accountant before the contract is final.
If part of the land could go into an easement, that decision has to be made ahead of the sale, not after. It can change the value of the estate, the tax owed, and what stays in the family.
Once the sale closes, we help you decide where the money goes: retirement income, gifts to kids or grandkids, causes you care about. That plan works better when it's set before the check arrives.
Ellen Marsh, our Tax Planning Lead, works alongside your attorney and accountant so the sale is structured before it's signed, not after.
It can. A conservation easement or a sale to a conservation buyer sometimes reduces the taxable value of the land, but the details depend on how the deal is structured and when the easement was placed. Ellen works with your attorney and accountant to check this before you sign anything, not after.
Mineral rights do not automatically transfer with the surface unless the deal says so. Many Montana ranch sales split them on purpose, either to keep future royalty income in the family or to add value for the buyer. This needs to be spelled out clearly in the purchase agreement before closing.
Yes. Once the ranch is sold, the proceeds become part of your estate like any other asset, and you can direct them to your children through your existing estate plan or a new one built around the sale. The key is planning this before the sale closes, so the tax picture and the legacy picture work together.
Usually not on the whole amount. Capital gains tax applies to the gain, the difference between what you paid or inherited the land at and what you sold it for, not the full sale price. Land held a long time, especially across generations, often has a large gain, which is why planning ahead matters.
It matters a great deal. How you originally acquired the land, whether by purchase or inheritance, changes your cost basis and therefore your taxable gain. A ranch passed down for decades often has a very different tax picture than one bought more recently, so this history needs to be documented early.
That is usually the best time. Once an offer is signed, some of the tax and legacy planning options close off. Cole and Ellen have worked through ranch sales, easements, and mineral rights questions with Montana families for years, and getting them involved before you sign gives you more room to plan.
Come by 18 W Main St, Suite 2, in Bozeman and walk through what a sale could mean for your family, before you put anything in writing. You will hear from one of us within one business day.
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