June 4, 2009

Now more than ever....get busy.

In thinking about the "family" cottage and our lifelong experiences growing up in Lakeside it is clear that simply driving in from the main road, our rose colored glasses appear automatically. It is magical. It starts with the first smell of pine air. It overwhelms our senses as we catch that first twinkle of the lake, notice the small changes here and there, a tree down, a smoother road, a new car at someone's cottage and then, home. Wherever we come from, the cottage is home. Our happy place. Like an old friend, the doors open and we are welcomed back into the fold. Or are we? Taking off the rose colored glasses isn't easy. And now? In these new economic climates, you must take them off and take a serious look at reality.

In the late nineties a law review article referenced by the late author of Saving the Family Cottage, Stuart J. Hollander revealed that 130,000 potential partition disputes will arise. That number was predicted to rise substantially as the baby boomers generation acquired second homes, cottages. With the current economic climate, everyone will face new challenges. No one is exempt. Take off the rose colored glasses and do it quickly.

Our unfortunate experiences with partition and the perils of tenants in common should serve as a real life example of what not to do. Or better yet, what to do now to save your family cottage. There are no winners in partition.

And so... after two failed facilitations, one held on January 15, 2007 and another held on February 23, 2007 the plaintiff, anxious to push this mess through quickly filed a motion for imposition of costs and sanctions and injunctive relief. This motion (I've lost count now) was filed on April 2, 2007. It was scheduled for hearing on April 9, 2007 and it was a doozie. I will be happy to share the full version of this "mean spirited and vindictive attempt to close the cottage down and bar access to the cottage until the sale of the property" with you. Our attorney, Gary Campbell also stated to us in his correspondence in regards to this motion, "The motion contains a number of insulting and spurious claims that are attempting to inflame the court. This is another attempt by plaintiff to try to convince the judge that the parties are so opposed to one another that sharing the cottage this summer would not be practial." This motion will be the focus of my next post.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great post Miss Joey, as usual. Yes, this dreadful economy is affecting all of us. Even Mr. Slymons didn't have enough juice to usurp your cottage on this own. (major bad news for this new tenants in common- tsk tsk)

Some of us can't even come up to the lake much this summer as we simply cannot afford to eat all our meals in the dining hall!

Looking forward to your next post, dear.

Anonymous said...

there is no better smell than driving into lakeside. The piney air is the best. sleeping is never a challenge. It is truly a magical place and now the whole world knows our whereabouts. It didn't used to be that way. Why nobody knew where Lakeside was. Now thanks to the slyme ball everyone can enjoy the air.

Anonymous said...

David Slymons had every opportunity to sit down with his sister like a man and work everything out. Yet, he cowardly chose the legal route. When he filed his case, the matter became permanently part of the Public Record.

Sr. Slymons clearly doesn't care about preserving Lakeside's privacy.

Katy Elizabeth said...

He doesn't even know what 'privacy' means. I cannot recall a time where my family vacationed there (during OUR scheduled month during the summer) where he did NOT show up out of the blue, with one excuse after another for being there. Did we EVER do that to him? Absolutely not.

Has anyone really figured out WHY he wanted the cottage all to himself? I mean, doesn't he still have that condo on the south end of the lake? If so, I'm pretty sure that just takes his greed to another level.

And no one ever answered me the other day - when is the annual meeting?

Joey said...

the annual meeting is the last saturday in July.

Anonymous said...

The sign reads, Lakeside Association. Private. Apparently that is lost on "his highness". He clearly doesn't care about the rest of the camp or their feelings. Nice quality to have in a president, huh?

Anonymous said...

Agree with Katy. Slymons does take greed to a whole new level. Didn't realize he had a condo on the south side of the lake. Wish he would just sell his ill-begotten cottage in Lakeside and get the hell out of here!

Anonymous said...

David slymons aka. your slyness

Anonymous said...

Books that were never written:
"The bottom Feeder"
and my all time favorite
"How to try and screw everyone and make yourself look good"
By David Slymons

Anonymous said...

what a drag owning a place where everybody well almost everybody can't stand you. wandering around by yourself with no friends other than your immediate family. What a lonely existance

Anonymous said...

os⋅tra⋅cize
  /ˈɒstrəˌsaɪz/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [os-truh-sahyz] Show IPA
–verb (used with object), -cized, -ciz⋅ing.
1. to exclude, by general consent, from society, friendship, conversation, privileges, etc.: His friends ostracized him after his father's arrest.
2. to banish (a person) from his or her native country; expatriate.
3. (in ancient Greece) to banish (a citizen) temporarily by popular vote.
Also, especially British, os⋅tra⋅cise.