It goes without saying that Montana farm owners regularly face legal questions on a wide range of issues from land use and water rights, to loans and mortgages, to business and tax filings. The farm itself may be held by a family partnership or a corporation, and individual family members may consult lawyers about their rights and roles in the family-owned business.

Many families who own farms in Montana (and elsewhere) find it helpful and cost-effective to have a primary lawyer or law firm handle their regular legal and tax issues. The central benefit is this: your lawyer or law firm becomes familiar with your farm operation, your family, and the nature of your business, in order to efficiently advise you on a range of matters as they come up. Ideally, your lawyer will be experienced in each area of the law that commonly touches on your farm operation: business law, real estate law, tax and financial law and, particularly in the case of family farms, estate planning. Expertise in each of these areas allows your lawyer to coordinate your legal and financial needs as well as to jointly plan for the future of your farm and your family members. This kind of coordination should cut your costs for professional fees, give you peace of mind, and let you focus on why you're doing it all in the first place: farming and family.