Summer cottages are a very common asset for many Michigan families. When you start looking at passing the family cottage down to the next generation, there are a variety of issues that need to be addressed, beyond treating everyone equally. For example, many children do not have the same financial standing and many may not be able to help maintain a second home. When leaving a family cottage to your children, you need to determine whether all of your children will be able to contribute or whether one child will ultimately end up covering all costs, but yet having to share the joy of the cottage. When leaving a family cottage to children, consider leaving a sum of money to be held in an account or in Trust so that the taxes, expenses and upkeep can be maintained from that account without seeking contribution from the children.
You also need to take into account whether all of the children will truly have the time and resources to use the cottage or would it mainly be a burden on them. Taking the time to sit down and talk with your children about these issues is very important as the fighting, bickering and or struggles that could follow will not be easily resolved if you have failed to address this ahead of time.