NF Home Ownership Agreement w/ Family Members

Wed, 7 Apr 2021 21:51:54 GMT

Hello fellow NFH members,

I am in need of information re. family cabin agreements. I am attempting to put together a cabin ownership agreement between family members.

We have already started writing a joint venture family agreement, but now some of the family members are interested in forming an LLC, as they are worried about the potential for a huge liability lawsuit due to an accident. Does the USFS allow the formation of an LLC between the owners of the actual cabin and other structures? Is there another way to limit liability?

I am the permittee with the USFS and I really want a family agreement that focuses on cabin use procedures, scheduling, finances, maintenance, etc., and do not wish to spend additional money and time on an LLC and maybe the USFS will not allow an LLC.

Any current family agreement info will be appreciated and I shall not take any information as legal advise. Thank you.

Our cabin is located in the Southwest Area, California, Stanislaus National Forest since 1934.

Fri, 9 Apr 2021 00:19:37 GMT

My wife and I are 50% owners of a cabin in the Lake Tahoe area. The other owners are an unrelated family who we've known for over 50 years. We maintain a cabin calendar on Google and manage our finances on QuickBooks. We share all expenses 50/50. We don't have a formal agreement in place but then chances of that happening in the next few years are pretty high because we each have adult children who will be inheriting the cabin. To my knowledge the FS does not limit who can own a cabin. I think they'd like to but it would be pretty hard to put that genie back in the bottle. However, the FS has very strict rules on the entity to whom the permit is issued. Specifically; an individual, a married couple (or domestic partnership), or a FS approved trust.

Perhaps someone else will provide a template for an agreement. That would be helpful to us also.

Jay Tripathi

Fri, 9 Apr 2021 16:37:34 GMT

Bill,

The FS does not have regulation restricting ownership per se, but for sure they will not recognize an LLC when issuing the permit and when identifying who is responsible for any liability. However, you should consult an attorney regarding your desires on ownership. If a trust will convey the same kinds of limitations on liability for the owners, the advantage would be that the Trustee would be responsible both for following the best interests of the beneficiaries AND would be the permit holder, and considered responsible to the Forest Service. We suggest you might look into a trust, if it will meet your objectives. NFH does not provide legal advice, so we very much recommend that you consult an attorney.

As for sharing agreements, it would be great for other cabin owners to share some samples. Other cabin owners may have some good suggestions and templates.

Thanks, Sharon Leach, NFH Executive Director

Sun, 11 Apr 2021 18:29:06 GMT

Bill, you can find an example of a Multi-owner Agreement by navigating to the Cabin Trusts & Multi-ownership webpage:

Resources->Trusts & Multiple Owners

From this page, you can click a link near the top to see the Multiple Owners page, specifically look for Example 3 - Cabin Multi-Ownership which is a sample agreement drafted by Brad Aspell, NFH member (& attorney).

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 15:52:45 GMT

Thank you, all , for your information!
I did look closely at the very helpful 'Resources' section before I decided to post my questions. Awesome website - thank you NFH leadership!

It is agreed that I will remain as lease holder with the FS regardless of how we construct a multi-family ownership of the cabin (improvements). I still need to contact our County for any tax implications, our Insurance Co. and get back to our attorney.

If any other cabin owners wish to share a multi-family agreement (- names), that would be greatly appreciated.

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 17:55:53 GMT

The link for Trusts etc does not work any more. Any chance for a new one?

Fri, 2 Jul 2021 22:08:02 GMT

Sorry about that!

We've been improving some of our Resource pages. I corrected the link above in the earlier response, so you should be able to log in as a Member and get to the Trusts page and the Multiple Owners page from there.

Thanks for letting us know,
Sharon Leach, NFH Executive Director

Thu, 24 Mar 2022 00:43:29 GMT

Greetings W. Dunlavy, Great question. Like you, we have been pursuing an "agreement" and "trust" entity as third generation owners of a 89yr old cabin our grandfather build at Pinecrest. Perhaps it not for you; but, one day we might have an opportunity to sit around a campfire to roast marsh-mellows and talk about these matters with good hearted people sharing a vision and a reality. For now, in addition to what the NFH resources offer that are specific to our cabin's, I gleamed insight from two books: (1) SAVING THE FAMILY COTTAGE: A guide to succession planning for your cottage, cabin, camp or vacation home, by Stuart Hollander, Rose Hollander, and David Fry. (2) PASSING IT ON: The inheritance and use of summer houses & Family Cottages, Judith Huggins Balfe and Ken Huggins. Also, several NFH conferences have offered sessions with lawyers who know the cabin program and have wisdom to offer - B. Aspell and Chris Cohen were helpful. - Teresa Newton-Terres, former Use Permit Holder and now simply a cabin owner :-)