Lori Harshbarger

For more than 30 years, Lori Ann Harshbarger has helped Montana families, farmers, ranchers, business owners, and professionals navigate life’s most significant transitions — protecting what they have built and preparing intentionally for the next generation.

Raised on a family ranch in Waterloo, Montana, Lori understands that farms, ranches, businesses, and professional practices are more than financial assets — they represent identity, sacrifice, livelihood, and legacy. Her primary focus is legacy and estate planning, with particular depth in multi-generational farm and ranch succession, closely held business transitions, and planning for families with complex dynamics.

Lori works with clients throughout Southwest Montana to design comprehensive estate and succession plans that are legally sound, strategically structured, and workable in real life. Her services include wills and trusts, farm and ranch succession planning, business transition strategy, real estate and land ownership structuring, asset protection planning, probate planning, and planning for blended or high-conflict families.

In addition to her succession and estate planning practice, Lori represents clients in a broad range of real estate matters, including property transactions, title considerations, land transfers, and ownership structuring. Her substantial experience in real estate law strengthens her ability to design effective estate and succession plans involving significant land and property holdings.

Her decades of experience in Montana family law — along with her service as a litigator, mediator and family law arbitrator — provide a distinctive advantage in legacy planning. She has seen firsthand how unclear planning, misaligned expectations, and unresolved tensions can fracture families and jeopardize businesses. As a result, Lori approaches every estate plan with both legal precision and relational foresight — anticipating areas of conflict and structuring plans to reduce ambiguity, protect assets, and preserve relationships whenever possible. Lori is frequently sought by families who recognize that preserving relationships can be just as important as preserving assets.

Lori is frequently sought by families who recognize that preserving relationships can be just as important as preserving assets. Clients value her steady counsel, thoughtful listening, and ability to guide difficult succession conversations with clarity and strength.

Lori is licensed to practice law in Montana, Arizona, and Texas and currently serves on the Legislative Committee of the Family Law Section of the State Bar of Montana as well as the BETTR section of the State Bar of Montana. Lori is a member of the State Bar of Montana, State Bar of Arizona, State Bar of Texas, American Bar Association, Montana Trial Lawyers Association and Arizona Trial Lawyers Association as well as Phi Alpha Delta Legal Fraternity.

Lori earned her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from Montana State University before beginning her professional career in cancer research. She later received her Juris Doctor from Thurgood Marshall School of Law in 1993. Her scientific background forms her analytical, detail-oriented approach to complex estate and farm, ranch, and business succession planning matters.

Outside of the office, Lori enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, training in CrossFit and trail running, helping on the family ranch and enjoying Montana’s outdoors. She believes in resilience, responsible stewardship, and thoughtful preparation — values she brings to every estate and succession planning client she serves.