I am a former in-house bank attorney who now focuses on estate planning and planning for closely held, family businesses, including farms and ranches, from formation to succession. That focus necessarily includes real estate and water rights as well. I also draft gun trusts.
I chose this profession to help families and business owners plan now to be in a position to reap the benefits and pass on the rewards of their hard work. I’ve succeeded if, after we’ve worked together, you, your family, your business, and your estate are better prepared to accomplish your goals–financial or otherwise. Your concerns are my concerns. Solving your problems is my goal. To that end, I will make every effort to make sure you understand what we’re doing and why.
In other words, legalese is not spoken here.
I am licensed to practice law in Wyoming, Utah, and Michigan, the state where I began practicing law as an attorney for Michigan National Bank in Lansing, Michigan in 1981, after spending a year in a management training program with the bank while I finished law school.
I was born and raised in Powell, Wyoming, after which I attended Ricks College (now BYU-Idaho) in Rexburg, Idaho, and Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I did my first two years of law school at the University of Wyoming then transferred to Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan, so I could begin working at the bank. I later returned to Wyoming to form Taggart Company, a partnership with my brothers in Cody, Wyoming. We worked as insurance and investment advisors to individuals and businesses, primarily in Northern Wyoming and Southern Montana.
My interest in estate planning and working with family businesses was piqued during the time I spent as a life insurance/investment advisor. Time and time again, we counseled with individuals who had created very profitable businesses only to find themselves facing the questions every small business owner eventually must face: How do I get my
money out? Who can succeed me and keep this company, farm, or ranch running and profitable? My goal with my business clients is to help them answer those and other questions they must address, often beginning with the first one for many of them: C or S corp, partnership or LLC.
Estate planning, of course, goes hand in hand with these and other concerns that individuals have as they look over what they’ve created and imagine how their loved ones can benefit from their hard work. My goal is always to help them achieve their goals.
I involved with my profession as well. Among other efforts, I am an at-large member of the Wyoming Business Law Section Council or the Wyoming Bar and a member of the Business Section Legislation Committee of the Utah Bar. I’ve also presented at CLE or Continuing Legal Education seminars on trusts, estate planning, probate and estate administration, business planning, LLCs, and firearms for NBI, the National Business Institute. Finally, I’m an active member of the ABA’s Committee on LLCs, Partnerships and Unincorporated Entities. I’ve written three articles for the Committee’s publication The LLC & Partnership Reporter, including Wyoming’s Series Limited Liability Company Act: (Virtually) All in the Operating Agreement (Oct. 2018), Utah’s “Benefit Limited Liability Company Act”: A Bridge Too Far? (Oct. 2018), and More than Just the Tetons: A New Chancery Court Makes Wyoming Well Worth Discovering (April 2020).
I am also a freelance financial/business writer, something I’ve been doing since 1996, though I’ve done much less of this the last six years. My writing has appeared on the pages of various Bloomberg, Schwab, and Fidelity magazines, as well as on Wealthmanagement.com, BankRate.com, Institutional Investor, and other print and online publications. I have also written for Northern Trust, Morgan Stanley, Zions Bancorporation, Wilmington Trust, Wells Fargo, LaSalle Bank, Smith Barney, KeyBank, Franklin Covey, and Private Wealth Management, among others. In addition, I occasionally ghostwrite by-line articles for major financial services firms.
Finally, I was an adjunct professor at Brigham Young University, where I taught writing every semester for 20 years, beginning with the Fall 1998 semester. I also had the opportunity to teach courses at BYU in American government (4 years) and legal writing (2 years).