Vacation Home Planning

Thorough estate planning is especially critical when a Family Vacation Home is an asset of the estate.  Any form of real estate that will be held within the family for more than one generation needs the attention of an estate planning attorney who has significant experience in Vacation Home Planning.

Thorough Vacation Home Planning can AVOID:

• Ugly conficts between family members.
• A partition lawsuit brought by a family member who wants to "cash out" their ownership interest.
• A disorderly transition from one generation to the next.
• Scheduling conflicts.
• Maintenance conflicts.
• Unnecessary estate taxes.

Thorough Vacation Home Planning can ACHIEVE:

• A plan for how to structure the eventual sale of the property, and how sale proceeds will be distributed.
• A plan for who should make decisions regarding the property.
• A plan for the payment of expenses related to the upkeep of the property.
• A plan for how an ownership interest should be valued if a family member wants to sell their ownership interest.
• Who may purchase an ownership interest from a selling family member.
• A plan for resolving conflicts between family members without the involvement of the courts.

Often, the centerpiece of a Vacation Home Plan is a Vacation Home , LLC (i.e., Limited Liability Company).  An LLC, in our opinion, is often the best tool for achieving a thorough, efficient plan for transferring the family vacation home from one generation to another.

Following are some of the issues that a well-prepared Vacation Home, LLC operating agreement will cover:

• identification of members of the LLC;
• identification of the managers of the LLC;
• maintaining the "books" for the LLC;
• capital contributions to the LLC;
• cottage endowment;
• rights of the members;
• decision making authority of the managers and/or members;
• withdrawal from the LLC by a family member;
• transfer of ownership of a family member's interest;
• put and call options for sales of LLC interests;
• scheduling use of the vacation home;
• dissolution of the LLC and distribution of sale proceeds; and
• many, many more miscellaneous provisions.

Establishing a thorough Vacation Home Plan is an advanced form of estate planning.  Not all "estate planning" lawyers are capable of setting up and implementing Vacation Home Plans.  The Illinois, Wisconsin and Florida estate planning lawyer of Sylvester Law Firm has significant experience in preparing Vacation Home Plans.  We welcome you to call us at (847) 251 - 2999 to discuss how a Vacation Home Plan will help you and your family.