My best friend recently traveled through North Dakota and kept me updated with his progress. It was a great trip for him as he not only got to see one of his sons and spend time with his granddaughters, but he also had the opportunity to experience good “windshield time” too.
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: I remember when our parents were young. It seems like they always had a will in place. Later on, they went with a living trust because it was “the thing to do” at the time. When they died, things went smoothly. My brother took over the farm and the rest of us kids shared Mom an…
- By BILL LOWMAN
While growing up, I was taught to evaluate both sides of an issue and think for yourself – fads come and fads go. One of the latest fads that government agencies, both federal and local, are aggressively pushing is “controlled burning” of our pasture grasslands and native juniper growths. To…
- Doreen Rosevold
As the Fourth of July approaches, I find I am reflecting on previous Independence Day holidays. These memories seem to fall into three categories: burns, embarrassment, and patriotism.
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
A few months ago, I was at my brother’s farm for a quick visit. Rudi, my German Shepherd, and I, were enjoying the warm, sunny spring day by going for a long walk. I heard it long before I ever saw it. The unmistakable drone of a helicopter pierced through our quiet solitude. Though I couldn…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We have read your columns over the past few weeks regarding the use of a life estate as an estate planning tool. We have a lot of questions regarding the life estate. Could you answer some of these questions? – A Variety of Readers
- By BILL LOWMAN
In mid-April, JoAnn got a phone call from New York City. She, again, almost didn’t answer it, but decided to pick it up to first detect if the voice had a foreign accent before she hung up. It didn’t, so she listened. He told her his name was Brian and that he was representing RWS Global Ent…
- Doreen Rosevold
It has been a very random week, so this “diary” entry will be very random, too.
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
Rudi, my 3-year-old wonderful German Shepherd, and I have a quarterly project. We take a garbage bag while walking to collect garbage. We live in rural Yellowstone County, Montana. We’ve done this for the past couple of years and “patrol” a 3-mile stretch (a 1.5-mile out-and-back route on bo…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We want to complete our estate planning, but after meeting with our local attorney, the process has been stalled for the past two years. He seems either too busy or too occupied with his city and county attorney duties to prepare our wills.
- By BILL LOWMAN
It seems the way a person is raised, the childhood impressions and ways of doing things, either taught or self-developed, stays with a person for a lifetime. You can be sent to classroom instructions for the majority of your youthful developing years and be taught the latest ways of doing th…
- Doreen Rosevold
We have a lot of batteries at our house, just not the ones we need. Batteries are the bane of my existence at times. I don’t want an electric car because I don’t want one more dadgum battery to worry about.
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
As I was scrolling through today’s news, an article intrigued me enough to click and read more. The International Space Station (ISS) has been in orbit for more than 25 years. It orbits the Earth once every 90 minutes, and the crew sees 16 sunrises and sunsets every day. I learned that the I…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We read your column in the last issue about uses of life estate deeds. To us, it seems like the perfect solution. No probate, kids know what they are getting at death, protection from Medicaid attachment after five years – what’s not to like?
- By BILL LOWMAN
Remember the “Space Race” of a half century past? Our USA and the Union of Socialist Soviet Republic (USSR) were deadlocked in a battle to be first up into the heavens. The USSR first sent up the Sputnik II with a live dog. Does anybody remember who the very first human in space was? I’m jus…
- Doreen Rosevold
The sun pulls hard when it is finally spring. There is an energy about it that makes me think that I can do all those outside jobs I was glad to see snow cover in the fall. Today, I cleaned off the garden. Most people do that in the fall, but for me, when I pull that last carrot and dig that…
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
As I sit at my kitchen table and look at the snow flurry-filled gray sky, I can’t help but think about last weekend when temperatures were hovering around 80 degrees and I spent most of the weekend doing yard work. It was too warm for this time of the year, for sure, but the blue sky and the…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We read your last column where you talked about a life estate on land owned is not subject to probate costs. You also mentioned it was not subject to Medicaid attachment should we need to go to a nursing home and run out of money there.
- By BILL LOWMAN
It’s amazing how fast life goes by when you’re busy. The weekend of May 23-24 will be our 40th annual Dakota Cowboy Poetry Gathering, held at the western-styled Medora Community Center.
- Doreen Rosevold
It was the middle of the night, and we were barreling down Interstate 29 south of Sioux Falls, S.D., trying to beat a weather system on our way home from visiting our grandson. We had a motel reservation for another night in Kansas City, Kan., but decided to just take a nap, a shower, and th…
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
We’re living in the season of hope. Welcome to spring! Here in south-central Montana, the grass is getting greener each day, baby calves are bouncing around pastures, and my lilacs are quickly developing buds. Like many of you, I spent this weekend working on various yard projects and develo…
- Michael Baron
Dear Michael: We have reached the age (65+) where we need to be considering either a living trust or a life estate. Our attorney has advised a living trust but we are not sure if this covers us if we go into a nursing home and do not have enough money.
- By BILL LOWMAN
Us rural country folks probably eat out in restaurants more often than the local urbanites do. On every business trip to town, we always patronize a couple of our favorite establishments where we run across friends and acquaintances from far away distances that do the same. We’re not big on …
- Doreen Rosevold
At five o’clock, around the world, there is an uneasiness and darkness that shadows the earth. It is the bewitching hour that begs the question, “What is for supper?”
- By DARLA TYLER-MCSHERRY
I recently met up with a dear friend for a quick trip through some of Oregon’s coastline and wineries. She and I have been friends ever since kindergarten, when we rode the bus together and giggled and laughed about things that girls giggle and laugh about, talked about boys and classes and …