New Montana Property Tax Rates for Homesteads and Rentals The 2025 Montana Legislature passed a new property tax system, which will take full effect in 2026. In general, most primary residences and long-term rentals will have lower tax bills, while short-term rentals, second homes, and commercial properties will have higher tax bills. High-value primary residences…
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Long-Term Care Benefits for Veterans Due to the exploding costs of long-term care facilities (some facilities in Great Falls have rooms that cost $12,000+ per month), a key component of modern estate planning is addressing long-term care costs. Montana Estate Lawyers attorneys often talk with clients about Medicare and Medicaid for long-term care. These programs…
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Changes in Tax Minimization Strategies President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) into law on July 4, 2025. Most importantly to our practice, the OBBB permanently raised the estate tax exemption to $15 million (with annual inflation adjustments) per person. This means a married couple has a total exemption of $30 million available…
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About our Charity Partner of the Year Vision All youth achieve their full potential. Mission We create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Youth in our program (Littles), ages 6 and older, are matched with a volunteer mentor (Bigs). Our qualified and specially trained staff create and support…
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Key Provisions from the One Big Beautiful Bill President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) into law on July 4, 2025. It is a massive piece of legislation touching on many areas of law. This article will focus on tax provisions that may impact our clients. Estate Tax All eyes in the estate…
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When Should I Start Taking Social Security? How Social Security Benefits Are Calculated Social Security benefits are based on your Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME), which is calculated from your career earnings. Here’s how it works: 1. Indexing Earnings: Your past earnings are adjusted to reflect changes in average wages over time due to inflation.…
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Protecting Your Legacy: Online Password Security in Estate Planning In today’s digital age, estate planning isn’t just about physical assets—it also includes protecting online accounts and sensitive data. Whether it’s financial accounts, legal documents, or personal email access, strong password security plays a critical role in safeguarding your estate. Why Password Protection Matters Poor password…
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Should I leave property in trust or not? When you set up your estate plan, not only do you need to decide who you are leaving property to, but you also must decide how you are leaving it to them. The simplest and most common way to leave property is outright, meaning you leave the…
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Protecting Your Legacy Through Education Here at Montana Estate Lawyers, we believe understanding the many facets of estate planning is a key part of protecting your legacy. We take pride in offering several webinars and seminars annually. Upcoming events include a FREE seminar at the Great Falls Public Library presented by Trevor P. Funseth on…
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Estate and Long-Term Care Planning – Lessons From Baseball Another baseball season is upon us. I’m always excited about the new season because that means warmer weather has arrived in Montana and my hopes are still alive, at least for a while, that my favorite team will win the World Series. My wife Rhonda and…
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