Free Estate Planning Classes in the Golden Triangle!

Estate Planning Classes

in the Golden Triangle Area

Marsha A. Goetting, Ph.D., CFP, CFCS

Extension Family Economics Specialist

P.O. Box 172800
Bozeman, MT 59717-2800
phone: (406) 994-5695 fax: (406) 994-4838
E-mail: goetting@montana.edu 

Marsha A. Goetting is a Professor and Extension Family Economics Specialist at Montana State University in Bozeman.

She has presented over 800 workshops reaching over 25,000 Montanans with financial and estate planning information. She has also authored over 75 MontGuides and bulletins and has received national, regional, and state awards for her financial management and estate planning programs.

An Extension Directory can be found here.

March 9, 2015 - Teton County 

Transferring Your Farm or Ranch to the Next Generation

·         Stage Stop Inn

1005 Main Ave N

Choteau, MT 59422

·         Noon-1:30 p.m.

·         Free – Register by contacting MSU Extension in Teton County 466-2491 or click here to email to register!

Individual or Family Financial Consultations (30 minutes each)

·         Stage Stop Inn

·         2:00-2:30 p.m., 2:30-3:00 p.m., 3:00-3:30 p.m., 3:30-4:00 p.m., 4:00-4:30 p.m., 4:30-5:00 p.m.

Estate Planning

Think You Know Who Receives Your Property When You Pass Away?  Think Again …

·         Stage Stop Inn

1005 Main Ave N

Choteau, MT 59422

·         6:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.

·         Free – Register by contacting MSU Extension in Teton County 466-2491

March 10, 2015 – Choteau

Individual or Family Financial Consultations (30 minutes each)

·         Stage Stop Inn

·         8:00-8:30 a.m., 8:30-9:00 a.m., 9:00-9:30 a.m., 9:30-10:00 a.m., 10:00-10:30 a.m.

March 10, 2015 - Toole County

Estate Planning

·         Sunburst Library

Sunburst, MT

·         1:30—3:30 p.m.

·         Comfort Inn of Shelby

455 McKinley

Shelby, MT

·         6:30 p.m.

March 11, 2015 - Liberty County

Estate Planning

Steps everyone can take to simplify estate planning and gift giving

·         Sweetgrass Lodge

511 1^st St. W.

Chester, MT 59522

·         6:00 p.m.

March 12, 2015 – Blackfeet 

Estate Planning

Why everyone needs a will..what happens if you don’t have one”

·         Blackfeet Tribal Conference Room

Browning, MT 59417

·         1:00-3:00 p.m.

·         Contact the Blackfeet Extension Office for more information at 338-2650

March 12, 2015 – Glacier County

Estate Planning

·         Glacier County Courthouse Annex

Cut Bank, MT  59427

·         6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

·         Free—Please pre-register for material at 873-2239 or click here to register via email

March 13, 2015 – Blaine County

Estate Planning

·         Montana Seed Show

Harlem High School

Harlem, MT

·         10:00 a.m. - Noon

* Marsha Goetting will also be presenting on Credit Card Smarts to the 6^th graders at the Chinook Meadowlark Elementary that afternoon.

Transferring Your Farm or Ranch to the Next Generation

I follow a blog written by Katie Bangs, and while I’ve never met her, I feel like I know her.  I know her husband, as I used to be his babysitter.  Katie and her husband, Jeff, are back helping run the family farm in the north Joplin country where I was raised. I very much enjoy her blog, Prairie Ponderings:  The Fullness of an Open Land, as the blog is rich with agriculture and pictures of a landscape I love. 

Her recent post on her designated “Thankful Thursday” was about gratitude in the workplace.  Here is an excerpt:

“On a farm, our coworkers are often our family. Sometimes being around family 100% of the time is more difficult than being around coworkers who aren't related to us. Why? It is so easy to take for granted that our family members know that we love and appreciate them for who they are, let alone the hard work they may be putting in on the farm. We forget to actually verbalize our appreciation and thanks for family members’ contributions because they already know we love them, right? … Recently, Jeff and I were invited by his parents to attend their annual meeting with their accountant and their lawyer. We were asked to attend because we are continuing the ongoing discussion of transition. What will the future look like as the parents transition away from farming full time and Jeff and I take over? There are a lot of financial and legal considerations to ensuring the transition process runs smoothly.

We all spent quite a bit of time discussing options and weighing pros and cons, both legal and financial. I'll readily admit that some of the jargon was over my head, but what really struck me was the overall atmosphere of the meeting was one of mutual respect and gratitude for one another. I felt lucky to be in a family where it is possible to sit down at a table as four people involved in a family land transition, with everyone feeling like their voice could be heard. No arguments occurred, and everything really went very smoothly. This is not always the case in family farm transition talks. Even the lawyer and accountant admitted by the time our meeting was over that the whole thing went very smoothly and they had both been in meetings like this that had gone much, much worse.”

Katie’s post had me thinking about all the complexities of transferring a farm or ranch to the next generation.  She is definitely right that not all families handle matters calmly and thoughtfully.  For some, different family dynamics and structures add to the complexity of transferring an ag operation, especially when more than one adult child wants to be part of the family business.  Dividing a farm or ranch in a way that seems equitable is certainly not as easy as dividing savings accounts or life insurance proceeds.

There are also the complications of control and decision-making.  It can be a unique challenge to have your mom and dad be the bosses in your workplace, especially if you’ve worked the place every day for the last several decades.  In addition to the relational considerations of the day-to-day operations of a family farm, there are the legal and tax consequences related to a potential transfer.  Add to the mix generational differences, throw in some family baggage and you have potential for a family implosion.  Unfortunately, many people expect so much unpleasantness that they avoid the subject all together, which seems like poor business planning.  Most businesses are constantly looking to their future and planning for the sustained success of a business.

Whether you anticipate a smooth or bumpy transition on your farm or ranch, it is definitely worthwhile to spend a bit of time learning, planning and communicating about an eventual transfer.  To help you get started, we are pleased to have Dr. Marsha Goetting, MSU Family Economics Specialist, in Teton County on Monday, March 9 presenting classes and taking appointments at the Stage Stop Inn.  She’ll present, “Transferring YourFarm or Ranch to the Next Generation” from noon-1:30 p.m. An evening program, “Think You Know Who Receives Your Property When You Pass Away?  Think Again …” will be presented from 6:30-8:30 p.m.  Register for the free classes by contacting MSU Extension in Teton County at 466-2491.  Each session will be different and filled with information useful to families regardless of their ages or financial circumstances.

In addition to the two classes, Goetting will be taking appointments with families or individuals to discuss financial and estate planning.  Goetting has a wide breadth of knowledge in many areas of financial planning, from basic budgeting to charitable distribution of multi-million dollar estates.  Each appointment will be 30 minutes in length, filled on a first-registered basis.  Goetting’s primary goal with these sessions is to learn about people’s situations and educate them about options and resources.  No legal advice will be given.  The sessions are also provided free of charge.  Six one half hour sessions are available on Monday, March 9, staring at 2 p.m.   An additional five sessions are available Tuesday, March 10 starting at 8 a.m.

For all the dedication most farmers and ranchers have to growing and maintaining their operations, it just makes sense to invest some time in planning for the future – not only of the farm, but of the families who live there.  It also couldn’t hurt to follow Katie’s advice and let the people you work with know that you appreciate them – from the person on night shift calving, to the person who makes sure there is grub for the crew to the one fueling the tractor for seeding.  Sowing little expressions of gratitude can reap a bountiful harvest. 

Dedicated to the Ones You Love ...

In our home, Valentine’s Day is an important celebration.  Not so much for the sake of Valentine’s Day itself, but because it is my sweetheart’s birthday.  Have you thought about what you will give the ones you love for Valentine’s?  You could choose the typical flowers, perfume or cologne, a nice meal; but, what if you chose to get your affairs in order instead?  So often, we go through the busy-ness of life, and put off the really important tasks, like updating a will or double-checking beneficiaries on policies or checking how contractual arrangements are titled. 

This month, we will be talking about tasks necessary to protect and provide for the ones you love.  It can be the sweetest thing you can do for the loves of your life.  Let’s start with wills.  Do you have one?  If not, you should know the laws of intestate succession, which are the rules the state of Montana uses to distribute your property, if you haven’t created a will.  In the Montguide, Dying Without a Will in Montana: Who Receives Your Property, Marsha Goetting writes, “Although Montanan’s are quite conscientious about their property while they are alive, 70 percent of these same thoughtful people make no provisions for its management and distribution after their deaths.”  Even though the laws make sense for many people, they might not make sense for you.  If you’d like to use an interactive tool to see how your property would be distributed, visit www.montana.edu/dyingwithoutawill.

Just as an example, in my own situation, with a husband and two children between us, if I die, all goes to my spouse.  Nothing would go to my surviving parent, my mom.  Without a will, I would have to trust (and I do) that my husband would make good decisions regarding our finances, property and our children.  While our situation is fairly straight forward, there are numerous scenarios that exist in families. For instance, do you know if step children will be treated in the same way as biological children, if you die without a will?  If you have no children or no spouse, do you know what will happen to your property without a will?  If not, it is time to find out.  One thing we know for sure is that we all have an expiration date.  The only problem is that it isn’t marked on the outside of our cartons.  You might as well plan for it now, so your affairs are in order when it happens.  It is a great thing to do this month for the people you love  

Resources You'll LOVE!

Estate Planning

List of MSU Extension Estate Planning Resources