My mom is in the process of purchasing a FS cabin near Lassen, and is also setting up a trust/estate.  She asked me a question today that I didn’t have a good answer to, which was how to deal with the cabin in her estate — there are 4 children (who all get along well, 2 from mom’s side, 2 from her husband’s side) , and she’s wondering what others have done in the past wrt passing it down to family.  I’m curious if anyone here inherited their cabin, or saw it passed down through family.  Did it go to one person who has primary responsibility for upkeep, fees, taxes, etc., or did it go collectively to a group who then shared responsibility? Thanks in advance for the advice!

Jen,

Regarding placing the cabin in your mother's trust, the Forest Service prefers cabins to be placed into a single-asset (cabin) trust and not included in trusts with other assets. The cabin trust document must be pre-approved by the Forest Service. See the Trusts and Multiple Owners webpage under the Resources menu for more information.

Regarding passing the cabin to the next generation, it's quite common for cabins to be owned by multiple siblings, but only one of them can be permit holder. The permit holder carries the responsibility for the Forest Service relationship on behalf of all co-owners. NFH strongly recommends a formal Co-owner Agreement among the co-owners to define the sharing of expenses, use, and transfers if one of the siblings chooses to opt-out of ownership. This can also be accomplished by placing the cabin in a trust where the Trustee of the Trust is the permit holder and all co-owners are listed as beneficiaries of trust.  Rules for sharing expenses and responsibilities can also be spelled out in the trust language.

Hi Doug, thanks for your response, it’s very helpful!

Hi, J
I really appreciate your question. I am going through a similar situation right now.

Thank you, Doug, for your answer. It was quite a bit more succinct than was the local USFS's answer, and it clarified the situation and solution for me.

Thank you,
Sherri Bornhoft