David J. Dietrich

David J. Dietrich graduated from Whitman College with a BA degree with honors in 1979.  He served in the Peace Corps in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.  He attended the University Of Montana College Of Law and graduated with a Juris Doctor (JD) in 1984.

David J. Dietrich is the Chair of the Real Property, Probate and Trusts Law section of the American Bar Association and a fellow of the American College of Trusts and Estates counsel.  He is a past Co-Chair of the ABA’s Property Preservation Task Force, which lately resulted in the Uniform Law Commission’s adoption of the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act.  David is currently on the University of Montana Tax Institute Advisory Board and serves on the Board of Trustees of Rocky Mountain College in Billings.  He served for six years on the Board of Directors of the Montana Land Reliance, a private land trust in Montana, having in excess of 1,000,000 acres under protection.

David is a fourth generation Montanan with a diverse ranching, real estate and estate planning background located in south central Montana, Billings, the largest and most diverse city in the Northern Great Plains.  His firm, Dietrich & Associates, P.C., has provided real estate tax and estate planning services to the region for over 24 years involving wills, trusts and real estate transactions including conservation easements, business organizations and real estate litigation.

David’s publications include the 2011 ABA Book Conservation Easements: Tax and Real Estate Planning for Landowners and Advisors; “Selected Post-Mortem Estate Tax Elections for the Small Business Owner”, “Pleasing Mother Earth and the IRS: Using Conservation Easements to Save Open Space, Income and Estate Taxes” for the Heckerling Institute for Estate Planning for the University of Miami in January 2003 and other tax and real estate related topics for the State Bar of Montana.

David and his family enjoy living in the Big Sky Country; he is an avid outdoor digital camera user, loves reading and likes outdoor activities in any season.