406-206-5959
Clients Service Is Our Passion
Founded by Ariel Overstreet-Adkins in Billings, Montana, Bluebird Law primarily focuses on comprehensive and personalized estate planning. The firm also assists clients with estate and trust administration including probates. We have additional expertise in business, agricultural, water, and real estate law.
Bluebird Law serves individuals, families, small business owners/entrepreneurs, and agricultural clients all across Montana.
Making a connection with each client is important to Ariel. The education-first model helps inform you so that you can make the best choice for your situation.
Ariel Overstreet-Adkins
Attorney
After graduating from law school at the University of Montana, Ariel spent an intensive year clerking for the Honorable Brian Morris, U.S. District Court for the District of Montana in Great Falls, Montana where she assisted the Judge with research, drafting opinions, and preparing for trials, both criminal and civil. Then Ariel was hired by one of Billings' largest and best respected law firms, Moulton Bellingham P.C. At Moulton Bellingham, Ariel worked closely with other attorneys on matters including a high-profile complex class action lawsuit and a large ranch sale transaction with over 300 water rights. She also took the lead on representing her own clients in agricultural, water rights, and property disputes. Ariel was able to assist a client in obtaining a nearly $1 million judgment in a dispute over a cattle management contract.
“The incredible experience I gained in my time with Judge Morris and Moulton Bellingham, combined with my prior communications and government affairs work for the Montana Stockgrowers Association, gave me the knowledge and confidence I needed to open up my own firm. I am so excited to focus on the areas of law—and the clients—that I care most deeply about.”
Ariel is a product of her deep Montana roots. Ariel was born and raised near Big Timber. She graduated from Reed Point High School and then Princeton University. Ariel was Communications Director for the Montana Stockgrowers Association. She lobbied for the Montata Stockgrowers Association and the Montana CattleWomen during the Montana legislative sessions in 2009, 2011 and 2013 and with Montana’s Congressional Delegation in Washington, D.C. During this time, she saw an opportunity to further her education and experience and decided to go to law school.
During law school, Ariel served on the Public Land and Resource Law Review. She published an article in Montana Law Review examining the potential for an amendment to the State Constitution to guarantee the right to farm and ranch in Montana called “Extraordinary Protections for the Industry That Feeds Us”.
She spent a summer as an intern for Chief Water Judge Russ McElyea at the Montana Water Court. She worked as a research assistant to Michelle Bryan, professor of water and land use at the law school. During this time, she also served on the Montana Milk Control Board. At graduation, Ariel received the award for her “exceptional dedication and diligence” for her work in the Land Use and Natural Recourses Clinic.
Ariel is very involved in the community. Ariel graduated from the Leadership Montana program in 2013 and currently sits on its Board of Governors. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Montana Cowboy Hall of Fame & Western Heritage Center, and a past long-serving Vice President. She volunteers to interview local applicants for Princeton University. She is a supporting member of the Montana Stockgrowers Association, the Montana CattleWomen, and the Montana Farm Bureau Federation.
Ariel and her husband, Zac Adkins, welcomed their daughter, Elianna, in 2020. The family includes two corgis, Finn and Poe. Ariel enjoys spending time at her family’s small horse ranch near Big Timber and at the family cabin up the Boulder Valley.
Fun Fact
While attending high school at Reed Point, Ariel was named to the First Team All-State basketball team all four years. You can still find her name in the record books for three-pointers in a season and in a game.
Bar Admissions
Education
Awards & Honors
Community & Professional Involvement
why i chose the name bluebird law
"Bluebirds give me a shot of joy when I see them. They make me think of spring, of new beginnings. My Grandma Smitty used to point them out when we drove with her near Ennis and say "There's a bluebird, that's good luck!" I wanted to bring a little of that joy and good luck to my work and to my clients."
— Ariel Overstreet-Adkins
“Bluebird Law was professional, understanding, patient, thorough and beyond helpful while we were doing estate planning. I highly recommend.”
— Kelly Edwards
Maren Hatfield
Associate Attorney
“Remember who you are and what you stand for,” Maren’s great godmother would call after the kids as they ran out the door. It was a reminder of the values they had been taught but it was also a challenge; go out into the world and figure out what makes you “you.”
Maren didn’t have to go far to find out she should be a lawyer. Her mom started telling her to be one when she was three and seemingly learned to talk and argue at the same time. Maren has always stood up for people who couldn’t stand for themselves and is fiercely loyal to the ones she loves.
So when her parents stood in the driveway waving as she pointed her truck laden with textbooks and way too many clothes to the University of Montana School of Law, they weren’t very surprised. In law school Maren gravitated towards mediation and negotiation. A natural problem solver, Maren loved learning how to add value to a solution and find compromises without losing creativity.
When her oldest son came along in her third year, off to Mediation Clinic they went. At three months old, he was her biggest fan at graduation and an enthusiastic study buddy for the bar. His influence sent Maren into practice wherever there were families to help.
As a Family Law attorney, she spent her days helping support and guide people through great loss. Her clients experienced loss of assets, sure. But at the heart of the conflict and the grieving was the loss of time. Some lost time with their children; half of their holidays maybe, half of their birthdays. Some lost their future with their partner. Most lost periods of their life that they could never get back.
As a single mother herself, time is always on Maren’s mind. Time spent with our loved ones is a privilege keenly felt when it is cut short in any way. When we pass away, will our children remember who they are? And what they stand for?
Then she found Bluebird. When a colleague and friend introduced her to Ariel, Maren knew that Ariel’s vision of solving problems now as a gift to our loved ones when we are gone, keeping families out of court and out of conflict and preserving legacy was the next best step she could take to protect her clients from even more loss.
So Maren joined Ariel in July of 2023, now with three biggest fans to cheer her on. They are an everyday reminder that there is no time to waste. Maren works hard and loves harder. It’s who she is. And it’s what she stands for.
Jennifer
Client Services Director
Jennifer came to Bluebird Law with over thirty years of legal experience. After many years in Arizona and Oregon, Jennifer returned to Billings in 2016. Jennifer’s career has included many aspects of law including estate planning, personal injury and wrongful death, commercial litigation, criminal, school law, and bankruptcy.
Jennifer cultivated a love of traveling while growing up overseas when her father’s career as a diplomat took the family to many postings around the world, including tours in Brazil, Bolivia, Honduras and Indonesia. After graduating from high school in Indonesia, Jennifer moved to her parents’ home state of Montana to attend and graduate from Montana State University.
Jennifer enjoys spending time with her human family as well as her animal family, including Frankie the Frenchie, mini Aussie Bogie, and Sheila her Munchkin kitty. Jennifer is passionate about animals and animal rescue, having an especially soft spot for special needs animals.
Shawnee
Community outreach coordinator
Shawnee Krauszer joined our team in April 2023 as our Community Outreach Coordinator to assist the firm in increasing our community engagement by planning and hosting educational events and participating in other special events. Shawnee also assists our client families in various parts of our estate planning process. Her background is much different, as Shawnee was a Mortician prior to joining our team.
After graduating as the Valedictorian of the Funeral Service Education Program at Mount Hood Community College in 2002, Shawnee returned to Billings to pursue a career as a Funeral Director with Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary. Over the past 20 years, she has served thousands of families in the Billings community during what could have been the most emotional and challenging time of their lives, following the loss of a loved one.
After 16 years with Michelotti-Sawyers, Shawnee began her own independent funeral contracting firm, Krauszer Funeral Solutions, where she provided coverage to rural funeral homes. Many times, rural funeral homes are a one-person operation. Shawnee’s presence provided a respite so the owner/director could take time away from their funeral homes, with peace of mind knowing their business was cared for by a licensed mortician who had the best interest of their business and the families they cared for, in mind.
For the past three years, she has served as a funeral director at Heights Family Funeral Home and Cremation and Funeral Gallery providing at-need funeral arrangements, as well as pre-need funeral planning, and assisting families with setting up funeral trusts to fund their funeral requests. She is a long-time member and Past-President of the Montana Funeral Directors Association.
Shawnee grew up in Northeastern Montana, graduating from Medicine Lake High School. “Go Honkers!” Her family has been farming the land in Sheridan and Roosevelt Counties for over 115 years. She is proud of her family’s agricultural accomplishments and love of the land, and enjoys going “home” during harvest time.
Shawnee and her husband, Scott Krauszer, enjoy spending time with their 2 dogs Zoomer and Buddy, exploring the rivers of Montana on their raft, golfing at Hilands Golf Club and Par 3, and attending as many concerts and music festivals as possible! Together, they are members of the Breakfast Exchange Club where Shawnee also served on the board of directors and chaired many committees. Shawnee is a graduate of Leadership Montana, Class of “Sweet ‘16” and continues to be involved with Leadership Montana as an alum.
Jessie
Client service technician and billing manager
As a Montanan, born and raised, Jessie grew up in the Helena area enjoying the outdoor activities and everything the western side of the state had to offer. After high school, Jessie moved to Kansas to expand on her life experiences, later returning to Montana to raise her daughter.
While attending university, Jessie assisted military families who participated in Family Readiness Groups to attain financial and emotional support while their soldiers were deployed. As a new mother herself, she understood the importance of being there for people going through difficult situations and sometimes loss.
Jessie graduated from Upper Iowa University and quickly pursued a career in banking and accounting. Although Jessie does not come from an estate planning background, her passion for helping people is what brought her to the Bluebird team.
Jessie has over 15+ years of experience in different areas of client services including retail customer service, hospitality guest services, and experience at another law firm as a client service technician and billing manager.
Jessie is an artist at heart and loves to travel with her daughter any chance she can.