Washington & Montana
Estate planning across Washington and Montana
If your life spans both states — a home on one side and a cabin, ranch, or business on the other — your estate plan has to work in both. I’m admitted in Washington and Montana and practice from each, so I can build and settle plans that account for the real differences between them.
A home base in each state
The differences that matter
Two states, two very different rulebooks
Washington and Montana handle estates in fundamentally different ways. A plan that assumes one state’s rules can misfire in the other.
| Topic | Washington | Montana |
|---|---|---|
| State estate tax | Yes — applies above a relatively low state exemption | None (and no inheritance tax) |
| Marital property | Community property | Common-law (separate property) |
| Probate | Nonintervention — streamlined, minimal court supervision | Uniform Probate Code — informal probate |
The estate-tax gap alone can be significant: a family that owes no federal estate tax can still owe Washington’s — while Montana imposes none. Where you are domiciled, and where your assets sit, can change the result.
Property in two states
If you own property on both sides
Real property is governed by the state where it sits. So a Washington resident who owns Montana land can face a second, “ancillary” probate in Montana — and a Montanan with a Washington condo can face the reverse. Your domicile— the state you treat as your permanent home — drives which state’s law and estate tax apply, while the situs of each asset decides where it may have to be administered.
Planning ahead — often by holding cross-state property in a trust or entity — is usually the cleanest way to avoid a second probate, keep the transfer private, and make sure the two states’ rules work together rather than against each other.
Who this helps
Built for people with ties to both
- Washington residents with a second home, cabin, or land in the Bozeman–Big Sky area
- Montana residents with property, accounts, or family in Washington
- Anyone relocating between the two states
- Owners of ranch, farm, or closely held businesses that reach across state lines
Planning — or settling an estate — across the state line?
I handle wills, trusts, probate, and business and real estate matters in both Washington and Montana, and coordinate the two so they work as one plan. Tell me what you’re facing and I’ll follow up personally.