A trust can also protect against creditors if one of your children experience financial difficulties with bankruptcy, judgments, tax liens or in the unfortunate situation of a divorce. This can be helpful to allow for voting rights amongst the kids, dictate how the expenses and maintenance are shared, and addresses options for improvements and buyouts. By that I mean, you get to establish the rules and conditions for how the cabin continues after you are gone. By setting up a Trust, it keeps the cabin out of probate and allows them to “control it from the grave”. The following are some of the ways my clients have planned for their family cabin: If you want your family cabin to remain a family cabin, please make a plan! Have open discussions about who wants to continue using the cabin, who can afford to fund the cabin for taxes, maintenance, and improvements? What happens if one child moves to Texas and never uses the cabin? What if one child wants to add on to the cabin or put in a new dock? How will everyone agree, and decisions remain civil? These are all important discussions worth having so an agreement can be made and put in writing, so everyone is on the same page. In-laws are imperative to the planning meeting so they can understand what mom and dad’s intentions are first hand. My advice to couples is to plan for what they want to happen to the cabin (or hunting land) once they are gone.Ī great place to start is to host a dinner and invite all the children and their spouses. Once mom and dad pass, that is when grief, greed, and fallouts occur. Couples often tell me that they have a very close family and all their children get along great…that is, until they don’t.
Unfortunately, as a real estate attorney as well as an estate planning attorney, I see way too often when things go south. Make your family cabin a legacy to your children and future generations through careful estate planning. However, what happens when the owner passes? The fun and memories do not need to end.
What’s not to love? Family, friends, and good memories being made. It’s that time of year - cabin fever! Everyone loves to escape to the lake on the weekends.
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