[CanadaGuy]

After the loss of a parent, dealing with the family cottage is not on the top of my list, but it is with the rest of the family.

Has anyone gone through this?

And how do you "share"

Who pays for what?

When you a need a new _____, who pays?

When you want a new _____, who pays? Who picks it out, what colour?

Maintanence, one wants it like a spa, one wants it like a cottage should be, a bit rustic, and enjoy it, as opposed to spending the entire weekend cleaning every square inch.

Neither want to sell, so we have to make it work...

Thanks for the constructive idea's in advance

[quankanne]

if the family agrees to keep the cottage, set up a building maintenance fund that all contribute to so you can take care of practical needs (fixing problems, painting, paying property taxes, etc).

and talk to everyone about how you want to care for it: Keep it low-key and rustic, jazz it up a little, jazz it up a lot, then plan accordingly from there.

if it's in a place that's far away from everyone, you might hire a company to provide basic care-taking (yardwork, house-cleaning, etc) so that none of y'all are stuck keeping up the place and resentful that the others don't help.

another idea is to get a calendar and see who wants to use it when – including joint holidays. That might help keep the peace in the family!

my main suggestion is to keep things simple so that if any one of y'all is called to deal with the cottage hands on, you're not forfeiting a whole lot of time caring for someone else's "grand plans"!

now, where's the cottage located & can I reserve for the last week in october?

[whichwayisup]

I am sorry for your loss..

Split all the bills equally.

How big is your family? Do you all get along? How big is the cottage?

Cottages that left after a loved one's death can cause alot of fighting, so just make sure ALL of you sit, talk and be fair when picking weeks for holidays.