Helpful cottage law resources and cottage succession planning information:

Saving the Family Cottage
A Guide to Succession Planning for Your Cottage, Cabin, Camp or Vacation Home

by Stuart J. Hollander

with a Foreword by Deborah Wyatt Fellows, Publisher, Traverse the Magazine

The late Stuart Hollander wrote the first "attorney authored" book for the vacation home owner. Saving the Family Cottage describes the problems inherent to shared cottage ownership and the concerns of parents who wish to pass it on. After a careful analysis of the pros and cons of different shared ownership arrangement, the Hollander outlined his preferred method to help families preserve this valuable asset for generations to come. Using the stories from families he worked with and clear graphic illustrations for the legal concepts involved, the book is reader friendly and informative.

Although Hollander used the term "cottage," the principles of his book apply to any property that a family wants to retain, whether it is an Adirondack camp, an Upper Midwest cabin, a Western ranch, or an ocean, lake, or riverfront home. Written for the vacation home owner but with information that also will be useful to attorneys and financial planners, the book engages the reader with stories of cottage "wars" and planning gone awry. Narrative examples and easy-to-follow graphics illustrate the more technical aspects of succession planning for a vacation home. The book makes a complex problem understandable and offers methods to help keep a second home in the family for generations.

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Saving the Family Cottage by Stuart J. Hollander

Nolo Press / Pleasant City Press, LLC - Paperback - July 2007

The Cottage Rules:
An Owner's Guide to the Rights & Responsibilities of Sharing Recreational Property

by Nikki Koski

Share cottage ownership and avoid disputes!

The Cottage Rules sets out no-nonsense, easy-to-use guidelines for cottage owners who share ownership with others. It deals with everything from succession to laundry. The rules work to prevent conflicts, so that your relationship with your partners can be either as close or as distant as you desire.

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The Cottage Rules by Nikki Koski

Passing It On:
The Inheritance and Use of Summer Houses

by Judith Huggins Balfe

A sociological study of the issues involved in sharing the inheritance of summer houses, Passing It On fills a critical niche in the literature on estate planning. It focuses on the family dynamics involved in sharing real property rather than on the legal issues of estate reduction, with extensive quotes from over 100 respondents, all summer-house heirs, about how they have managed to keep the property in the family over generations.

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Passing It On by Judith Huggins Balfe

The Penning Group
The Cottage Law Firm in "The Depot", Suttons Bay
"The Home of Cottage Law"

231.271.4500 in Suttons Bay