MARK KOHLERMain Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, LLC · Owner at Main Street Professionals, LLC

The Fight Over a Dead Parent's Boat 🚤

26 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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1:12

In this conversational advisory monologue, Mark Kohler warns that expensive family ski boats can become flashpoints for conflict after the owner’s death. He explains how, under most state laws, the boat’s title can transfer instantly at the DMV to the first next‑of‑kin who presents a death certificate, turning the asset into a contested prize among siblings. To prevent such disputes, Kohler recommends placing the boat in a revocable living trust or an LLC, and establishing clear, written usage rules—such as allocating a set number of weeks per year, rotating management duties, and a formal sign‑up system. By structuring ownership and usage in advance, families can keep the boat within the family, avoid costly legal battles, and honor the deceased’s wishes.

Chapters

You've got a kick-ass Malibu ski boat. Now back to the '80s again, you could get a ski boat for 50 grand, something like that. Have you been to the boat stores lately? What I do know is that you could go on a pontoon boat with your dad, or you can ride in Suck My Wake with Uncle Roman. Which one do you want to do? If you haven't been out boat shopping lately, they are more expensive than a house. You can spend half a million dollars on these ski boats. Okay, so you have this boat. Yeah, we got it. And you die. You die. Sorry, you just got this new boat. You don't get to enjoy it. Your son loves this boat. Ironically, so does your other son or your other daughter. You got kids that are like, oh my gosh, if Mom or Dad were to die, I want that boat. Now it's a race to the DMV, because whoever gets to the DMV first with that death certificate, they're going to title that boat in your name. Because the DMV is like, oh, they died? Show me a death certificate. And you're next of kin? Great. Guess who title just transferred to? Maybe it wouldn't hurt to have the trust own it and say, hey, when it comes to this boat, I want to put that cool boat in an LLC. I want the kids to share it. Everybody gets 3 weeks out a year. They can sign up for it. The manager is going to rotate, and you have a game plan for the use of this boat, and it stays in the family with proper rules of use.