Your cottage sharing strategy should include a clear succession plan. This process should start with parents clearly understanding the situation, says Peter Lillico, a lawyer specializing in this area in Peterborough, Ont. A common family home comes with responsibility with pleasure. Find out here how to enjoy it and keep in the family for future generations. 1.C is a transitional vehicle, safely transferring ownership of the cabin and control from one generation to the next, keeping the rights and joys of parents, while ensuring that children are administrators for the next generation. If the cottage agreement provides for periods of exclusive use, then the family council is the most appropriate time and place to know who receives what time frame. Taking into account important things, such as the need to repair shack problems or the desire to improve the cabin facilities, it is possible to cover during the family council, taking into account the budget. For parents, it is often important to start the cottage agreement process, but counseling and involving children is an essential component. The well-intentioned vision of parents on how the cottage should work when they are no longer involved rarely leads to a true “buy-in” of the children, necessary to achieve lasting success of the cabin estate. Larger repairs, especially if unexpected, can weigh on any group of cabin owners – family or otherwise. The best way to push them back is to be proactive. Cost-sharing is usually a source of inconsistencies.

Should operating costs be distributed equitably or distributed in relation to usage? For example, if the septic system packs it, one owner may be able to pay his share of the repair bill for his currency, while another may be too attached to contribute. So the house remains unused for a while, or does the attached owner have to borrow? Or do partners who think better pay for everything? On the other hand, a cabin agreement could create, as part of the shared budget of the cabin, a reserve discretionary fund for unexpected expenses. Paying bills: It`s one thing to agree on how much each family member will bring, but it`s another to decide who will pay the bills. Someone has to make sure that property taxes, utilities and suppliers are paid. To avoid possible disagreements, a number of issues related to the operation and costs of the cabin should be taken into account: it reaches a time when the parents who own the cottage “want to keep it in the family”. Parents with children, although they may become “empty nests”, expand their families by marrying their children and grandchildren, all of whom have, to some extent, enjoyed the cottage.