Cottage-Law.com Blog

Archive for the ‘Indirect Ownership’ Category

Every time I watch an English movie or see a program set in England I can’t help but notice beautiful English country estates. As an attorney I look at the lavish estates and think about the right to partition and how our real estate laws are based on 600 year old laws. What does this have to do with your family cottage? Plenty. Our current real estate laws put your family cottage at risk. Why? Simply because real estate law does not promote keeping the family cottage in the family for multiple generations. It involves how the cottage is owned. Direct ownership and indirect ownership is what makes the difference. Cottage Succession Planning provides a solution to someone being able to invoke a Right to Partition. Read more about family cottage risks on our website at http://www.cottage-law.com/cottage-risks.html

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They say, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” That’s especially true when applied to the family cottage. Whether the family cottage is a small rustic cabin on a pristine lake or stream, a luxurious retirement home on one of the Great Lakes or ocean shore, or a family retreat in some stunning mountain region, it’s not “economic value” that is the most important factor in keeping the family cottage, it’s the “emotional value.”

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The Right Legal Entity for Your Cottage

Circumstances need to be evaluated for each family and cottage property. There are a few special cases where keeping your cottage under direct real estate ownership is the simple solution to a complex situation. Two cottage planning solutions which should be examined, and discussed with your cottage law attorney, are Life Estates and the Ownership Agreement.

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How We Hold Title to Real Estate Ownership

There are two ways to hold title to real estate:

• directly, or
• indirectly

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First Steps Cottage Succession Planning

First, ask your child, or children, if they want a share of the cottage. They may not want a share of the family cottage and there could be a variety of reasons. Each should be explored for passing on to them an alternative value of their share of the family cottage.

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Every kid should roast a marshmallow by a fire next to the lake, paddle a canoe, catch a fish, dive off a raft, skip stones and and eat an ice cream cone or a freshly made donut from a local food shack which opens every summer for cottage visitors.

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