# Changing the Name on the Title



## sage (Mar 3, 2008)

Does anyone know how to get the name changed on the title?
Is it simply going to a solicitor and drawing up a document or does Marriott have an official form?
How much should this cost?
We just want to transfer it from both our names into one.
Thanks for any responses.


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## mas (Mar 3, 2008)

I can't answer your direct question.  But I thought I would mention that if you use Interval International to exchange you will need to change the name of your I.I. account to match the new title of the timeshare as well, in order to continue to use them.  I'm not sure but I'm guessing this would probably be the same with most other major exchange companies.


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## johnmfaeth (Mar 3, 2008)

If it is a deeded timeshare (as are most Marriotts) a new deed will be required to effectuate a legal ownership title change. Then a copy of that recorded deed will need to be sent to the Owner Modifications Dept. of Marriott VCI in Florida.

If it is a right to use lease timeshare (certain non-US Marriotts other tban St. Thomas) a new lease form needs to be requested from Marriott, completed, and returned.

For deeded units, this is almost as much work as a transfer to a third party and one should expect to pay the same fee to a closing company. Typically $300-$400. Expect to pay even more if you use an attorney rather than a closing company.


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## ldodd (Mar 3, 2008)

How about removing a name, Like an ex-husband's?


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## johnmfaeth (Mar 3, 2008)

Same exact story. Requires his signature unless you have an original copy of the court order with a raised clerk's seal. If not you will need to obtain a "certified" copy from the Family Court who presided over the divorce.


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## suenmike32 (Mar 4, 2008)

My wife and I changed one of our deeds that listed my name only, to listing both of our names quite easily,... and for far less money than you would think.
3 of our deeds, had both names on it. One one of our deeds had only mine as the owner.
This created a problem with Marriott and resulted in having 2 seperate accounts, (one account for the 3 and one account for the one with my name only).

This is the solution that we enacted...here in Florida.
We went to Office Max and purchased a "quit claim deed" form, (Approx cost $7.00)
We filled it out and brought it to the county clerk's office in 
West Palm Beach, (along with the original deed). The clerk gave us an additional form for us to fill out, (we did it right there in the clerk's office.
For a fee of approx $25-30.00, the clerk made the necessary changes, gave us a receipt and promised the new deed will be mailed to us within 30 days.
The new deed arrived as promised. 
We then sent a copy to Marriott Owner services to have our account re-recorded in both our names. 
Unfortunately...that took 2-3 months. They are very slow..but it was done and we now have one account.

Under *these circumstances,* (at least in Florida), there is no need to spend a fortune to get your deed changed.
I would call the County Clerk in the city that oversees the records for your timeshare and inquire as to whether this can be done.
It worked for us and I have no concerns as to the legality of our deed change. 
I probably would however seek legal advice if there is a divorce, death or other complications involved. 
What we did was a simple name change that required a band-aid...not an amputation.
Mike


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## beachdiva (Mar 4, 2008)

I'm going thru the process of changing names right now due to divorce.  We have both Marriott and Starwood properties.  Both said to use a title company.  In Marriott's case, they said to forward the new deed to the Marriott Documentation dept when completed.  We were referred to special timeshare departments at Island Title for the Hawaii deeds and Fidelity Nat'l Title for the AZ deed.  Each title company emailed me a simple questionnaire.  We will submit that plus a copy of the original deed and pay $295-$350 per deed to get them transferred.


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## johnmfaeth (Mar 4, 2008)

What SuenMike did has an unintended consequence, many title insurance companies will not issue coverage for a property that has quit claim deeds in their chain of title. That may hurt a future effort to sell the units.

For this reason, and the fact that it is not that much harder to create a proper Warranty Deed (or Grant Deed out west), few professional closing companies or attorneys will ever use one.

Also, timeshare management companies will accept almost anything that has the correct unit and week number on it, regardless of any other title defects/issues it contains. An issue may often lay dormant for years until it bites.


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## suenmike32 (Mar 4, 2008)

I have very little concern for the situation that johnfaeth implies, (that may or may not happen several years down the road).  I have my original deed from Marriott and a simple quit claim deed, notorized and filed with the state of Florida adding my wife's name (for clerical purposes only).  I do not consider Marriott an average timeshare management company and I'm very comfortable in my decision to do this on my own and save the expense of hiring an attorney, who more than likely would have had his/her clerk do it anyway.
Mike



johnmfaeth said:


> What SuenMike did has an unintended consequence, many title insurance companies will not issue coverage for a property that has quit claim deeds in their chain of title. That may hurt a future effort to sell the units.
> 
> For this reason, and the fact that it is not that much harder to create a proper Warranty Deed (or Grant Deed out west), few professional closing companies or attorneys will ever use one.
> 
> Also, timeshare management companies will accept almost anything that has the correct unit and week number on it, regardless of any other title defects/issues it contains. An issue may often lay dormant for years until it bites.


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## PS0915 (Mar 14, 2008)

johnmfaeth said:


> What SuenMike did has an unintended consequence, many title insurance companies will not issue coverage for a property that has quit claim deeds in their chain of title. That may hurt a future effort to sell the units.
> 
> For this reason, and the fact that it is not that much harder to create a proper Warranty Deed (or Grant Deed out west), few professional closing companies or attorneys will ever use one.
> 
> Also, timeshare management companies will accept almost anything that has the correct unit and week number on it, regardless of any other title defects/issues it contains. An issue may often lay dormant for years until it bites.



I have to agree with johnmfaeth about it might pose an issue when you intend to sell to anyone.  Usually the purchaser would run a title search before preparing any deed to convey the property from the seller to the new owner and when they find an issue with a quit claim deed done wrong it can halt everything until it is fixed which would cost the seller alot of money to fix. It can be months before anything can continue.   That's why Marriott or even other Timeshare co's advised you to go to them or a accredited title co.   I rather spend the money to get it done right then to be stuck.


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## suenmike32 (Mar 15, 2008)

Well...I guess I'm kind of dense.
I suspect that johnmfaeth is probably an attorney, and an excellent one at that. 
It could very well be that the other gentleman is knowlegable on law as well....however,
I just have a tough time understanding why the need to hire an attorney to change the name on "our own" title,
from Mike to Mike and Sue.
I paid for a legitimate and well respected closing company to do a title search when we originally purchased the unit.
That worked out fine.... and I knew nothing about the previous owners, then again...thats why I hired a closing company.
I can't understand why I should be concerned about not having clear title at any time...in that I'm merely doing a name change, from me to us.
Perhaps I don't know "me" as well as I thought? 
I'm quite sure that I know "my wife". 
Then again....maybe I shouldn't trust "us"?
Nahhh....we're nice people and "we're" not out to stiff "us",
so...I'm still convinced that given the circumstances, I feel that I  safely saved $300.00 or more on this simple fileing.
Mike 



PS0915 said:


> I have to agree with johnmfaeth about it might pose an issue when you intend to sell to anyone.  Usually the purchaser would run a title search before preparing any deed to convey the property from the seller to the new owner and when they find an issue with a quit claim deed done wrong it can halt everything until it is fixed which would cost the seller alot of money to fix. It can be months before anything can continue.   That's why Marriott or even other Timeshare co's advised you to go to them or a accredited title co.   I rather spend the money to get it done right then to be stuck.


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## johnmfaeth (Mar 15, 2008)

Hi Suenmike,

No, I am not an attorney, just very knowledgable from years of running a timeshare closing company and a timeshare investor for years before that. Have 3 SEC/NASD licenses, NYS RE Broker/Salesperson training, minored in Real Estate Law in College.  My business partner is a 20+ year real estate attorney and a former NYC Recorder of Deeds. He also wrote title insurance policies for all the large insurers as co-owner of several title abstract firms.

The problem is the introduction of the Quit Claim Deed. Many individuals even erroneously refer to them as "Quick Claim Deeds" becauae they are supposedly easy to complete. But they do not affirm that the person signing the deed even owns anyhing. Before NY had laws against real estate frauds, I could have legally given you a Quit Claim Deed for the Brooklyn Bridge. That is a frequently used analogy in real estate classes.

This is why title insurance companies dislike them in general.

It takes little extra work for the individual or professional to do a "traditional" deed which title insurance companies will accept with no issue. That is the issue I hope people become aware of, and the sole reason I somewhat harshly pointed out the problem in your scenario.

No personal offense meant, and it may never effect you. But others may benefit greatly from this discussion.


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## laxmom (Mar 15, 2008)

Good morning, John.

This thread is interesting to me because we set up a revocable living trust a year or so ago and have not gotten our Marriott weeks put into the trust yet.  We were given obsolete forms for one and told incorrect amount on the other so our check and paperwork were returned.  We would have to have them retitled in the trust name.  We considered putting the one we are waiting ROFR on into the trust from the start but it sounds like that would really mess things up with 2 II and Marriott accounts until we got the other 2 transferred plus it would cost a bit of moulah.  I was also told that Marriott charges a fee on top of the other costs to change the name in their system.

Are my assumptions correct?


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## suenmike32 (Mar 15, 2008)

No offense taken.
Happy Paddy's Day
Mike



johnmfaeth said:


> Hi Suenmike,
> 
> No, I am not an attorney, just very knowledgable from years of running a timeshare closing company and a timeshare investor for years before that. Have 3 SEC/NASD licenses, NYS RE Broker/Salesperson training, minored in Real Estate Law in College.  My business partner is a 20+ year real estate attorney and a former NYC Recorder of Deeds. He also wrote title insurance policies for all the large insurers as co-owner of several title abstract firms.
> 
> ...


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## GrayFal (Mar 15, 2008)

If there is a death of a spouse, Marriott charges $25 to change the name - friend did this in 2001 - it was just a form submitted along with a copy of the death certificate.


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## johnmfaeth (Mar 15, 2008)

Pat brings up another side of this.

If one loses their spouse, and the deed includes "survivorship" by means of them being Joint Tenants with rights of survivorship, or "husband and wife" in some states. or "Tenants by the Entirety" in certain states, then the surviving spouse automatically owns 100% of the timeshare. 

If the surviving spouse wants to sell, they simply sign a new deed and attach an original copy of the death certificate ("raised seal" copy). No super- expensive second probating of a will in a different state than they resided.

Some timeshare organizations (Divi is one example) charge reduced resort fees in such situations, Marriotts get their $25 no matter what.

They also get their $25 if a couple retitles to a family trust for which they are the only trustees and beneficiaries.


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## aka Julie (Mar 15, 2008)

*Let's take it one step further*



johnmfaeth said:


> Pat brings up another side of this.
> 
> If one loses their spouse, and the deed includes "survivorship" by means of them being Joint Tenants with rights of survivorship, or "husband and wife" in some states. or "Tenants by the Entirety" in certain states, then the surviving spouse automatically owns 100% of the timeshare.
> 
> ...



What happens when the surviving spouse dies and the timeshare(s) are part of the estate going to heirs?


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## NJN2Mom (Jul 29, 2008)

*a question of heirs?*

aka julie asked:

"What happens when the surviving spouse dies and the timeshare(s) are part of the estate going to heirs?" 

Can someone answer this?  We are currently in this situation, and it is messy.  We want to do it right, so our kids don't get stuck with the same mess.


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## Bill4728 (Jul 30, 2008)

aka Julie said:


> What happens when the surviving spouse dies and the timeshare(s) are part of the estate going to heirs?



I'm not a lawyer, but I would guess that it go thru probate and gets transfered like the other real estate in the estate. 


PS    sure is wierd reading all of John's posted on this thread now that he is gone!


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