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Transitioning the Family Cabin

[/fusion_text][fusion_text]Cabin season is winding down. Do you know what that means for me? More traffic on Friday mornings. It is a summer tradition in Minnesota to take Fridays off and head to the cabin. That means I have less cars to contest with on my way to work. Why? My family doesn’t have a cabin. I stay in town most summer weekends.

Don’t get me wrong. I understand the appeal to having a summer oasis filled with family memories. I have plenty of clients who love their cabins. Most are baby boomers who bought the cabins themselves. They have been travelling there with their families for decades. Now it’s time to make plans for the next generation.

Keeping the cabin in the family takes some serious planning. First and foremost, is your retirement on rock solid financial ground? Do you need to sell the cabin to the next generation to make the numbers work?

The other two big obstacles I hear about are equitable use and equitable funding. To avoid fights in the next generation, talk about how much each of your kids would use the cabin if you leave it to them. Do some now live out of state with kids? They aren’t likely to use it as much as those who stayed in Minnesota or Wisconsin.

As for the equitable funding, who is going to pay for the upkeep? Your daughter in Colorado isn’t going to want to pay the property taxes on a cabin she isn’t using. She would, no doubt, rather have you sell it and inherit cash. You may be surprised to find that even the children who regularly use the cabin are much less interested when they need to pay for it. A proactive conversation can help you figure this out.

The key to successfully transitioning a cabin to the next generation is spending time upfront planning it all out. I have seen it done well. I have seen it become more trouble than it’s worth. Want to talk more? I’m all ears.[/fusion_text][separator style_type=”single” top_margin=”” bottom_margin=”” sep_color=”” icon=”” width=”” class=”” id=””][fusion_text]

Legal Disclaimer: These posts do not constitute an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any securities or instruments or to participate in any particular investment or trading strategy. They are for informational purposes only. ASA gathers its data from sources it considers reliable. However, ASA makes no express or implied warranties regarding the accuracy of this information or any opinions expressed by the author and may update or change them without prior notification.

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