Managing my mother's timeshare

[teacher74]

Hello to everyone. My mother has fallen ill and has recently moved into a rest home and will likely be there for some time, if she ever is able to leave. Obviously she is unable to manage her finances. I have taken that responsibility and have managed her finances without issue until now. She purchased a timeshare about 15 years ago and has never used it. She has paid the maintenance fees each year and kept everything current. Now she is going onto Medi-Cal (State health benefits for low income people). This will require the state to take all but $35 of her income. This will prevent her from being able to pay her maintenance fees of about $500 per year. I have called to talk to the manager at the time share resort and asked for their advice and all they did was threaten her with collections. What will happen if she doesn't pay the fees since she would be unable to? She has no home in her name nor any real assets any more. What advice can anyone give me? Thanks for any help.

 

[DeniseM]

Welcome to TUG! I'm sorry about your mom.

They probably will turn her over to collections. A few ideas:

1. Have your mom add your name to the deed and use it yourself - timesharing is a great way to vacation and that way you will automatically inherit it.

2. Offer it to a family member.

3. Put it on the TUG Bargain Basement Board for $1 with the understanding that the new owner pays the transfer fees.

 

[Dave H]

Hello to everyone. My mother has fallen ill and has recently moved into a rest home and will likely be there for some time, if she ever is able to leave. Obviously she is unable to manage her finances. I have taken that responsibility and have managed her finances without issue until now. She purchased a timeshare about 15 years ago and has never used it. She has paid the maintenance fees each year and kept everything current. Now she is going onto Medi-Cal (State health benefits for low income people). This will require the state to take all but $35 of her income. This will prevent her from being able to pay her maintenance fees of about $500 per year. I have called to talk to the manager at the time share resort and asked for their advice and all they did was threaten her with collections. What will happen if she doesn't pay the fees since she would be unable to? She has no home in her name nor any real assets any more. What advice can anyone give me? Thanks for any help.

Talk with an attorney in California that does estate planning. You need to do that as the lookback period for most medicaid type programs will not allow her to have the asset nor transfer it without losing some kinds of benefits.

There are things like special needs trusts that will allow you to sell it and put it in to this kind of trust forthe care of your mother, but before you add your name to the title, you really need to talk to a lawyer.

 

[yumdrey]

Also try to sell through ebay from the starting price of $0.01
Before you put it on ebay, check the prices of your mom's timeshare. I would check TUG market place, redweek.com and also would check recent selling history/ongoing auction from ebay. Maybe you need to pay half (or whole) for closing cost to sell it. There's also a way to donate your mom's timeshare to charity.
I am sorry about your mom, wish you find a way soon.

 

[teacher74]

I'm not really interested in keeping it for myself, I don't really travel enough to warrant paying fees forever. I am really just interested in getting rid of it, but don't know how.

 

[DeniseM]

I pm'd the OP and this TS has no real resale value - it's Silver Lakes in Helendale, CA. She would do well to give it away. Since it has no resale value, a charity won't accept it.

Teacher74 - you can try to give it away right here on TUG for free - http://tug2.com/timesharemarketplac...roomsMin=&BathroomsMax=&SleepsMin=&SleepsMax=

Hmmm...there are already 3 listed on the Bargain board. Do you have a friend or family member who would like to take it?

As far as letting it go to collections, we are in the same situation with my MIL. She was in another state and by the time we found out she had Alzheimers, she was in a terrible financial mess and went into to a specialty care center. She had/has no assets and her Medicare and Soc. Security pay for her care, so it's not like the collection agencies can really do anything.

 

[Jennie]

Perhaps a social worker, or an attorney who does pro bono (free-volunteer)work for the rest home, would be willing to call the resort, explain your Mom's situation, emphasizing that she will have absolutely no ability to pay another penny in maintenance fees, and ask them to accept a "deed back" in lieu of foreclosure. If they are wise, they will go along with this plan. There's no use turning it over to a collection agency, nor have the week sit on their books in limbo.

One thing you should also think about--if Mom has Social Security or pension checks directly deposited into a bank account, make sure that there is no other money in the account. Most states prohibit taking these types of funds to satisfy a judgment, if the resort plays hard ball and brings the matter to court. Better still, if at all possible, have the checks mailed to her, cash them, and put the money in any place except a bank account in her name.

So sorry you have to worry about a worthless timeshare at a difficult time like this. But I don't think the resort will do anything negative against Mom once they are convinced that she cannot pay anything.

Just DON'T put the timeshare in your name nor add your name to the deed. You did not buy it, do not want it, and have no legal responsibility for it. Keep it that way. And good luck.

 

[Tia]

Put perfectly....

........Just DON'T put the timeshare in your name nor add your name to the deed. You did not buy it, do not want it, and have no legal responsibility for it. Keep it that way. And good luck.

 

[nazclk]

Getting rid of it.

Why jump through all these hoops. Call the resort and ask them if they will take it back, otherwise your mother, who does not have any income will stop paying the fees. No lawyer in their right mind would appear before a judge and try to get money from someone in a rest home with no income or assets.
And you might want to explain to the resort, that it will cost them more money than they will get, that being nothing. One last thing if your dear mother is in a rest home, I don't think her credit rating is an issue.

 

[DeniseM]

Why jump through all these hoops. Call the resort and ask them if they will take it back, otherwise your mother, who does not have any income will stop paying the fees.

She has already done that, as stated in her original post:

I have called to talk to the manager at the time share resort and asked for their advice and all they did was threaten her with collections. What

 

[bogey21]

Call them again; give them the facts without emotion; tell them it is in her name only and she has no estate; and that if they want it they can have it; but firmly tell them they will not be getting the MF because she doesn't have the funds with which to pay. If they won't take it back, just forget it and let the events play out

George

 

[theo]

Talking to the right people?

Not to split hairs here (and I don't know the resort at all), but it's solely a HOA / mgt. company decision in regard to "deedbacks". So, I'm wondering "aloud" here whether the initial inquiry was actually directed to the right people in the first place??

It doesn't matter a bit what some lackey at the front desk phone of a resort says or thinks (or, more likely, doesn't think...). Personally, I'd want to be very certain that the voice on the other end of the phone was a person with substantive knowledge and decision making authority; i.e., not just a hired worker processing phone calls on site --- and maybe having a bad day and/or bad attitude at the time of the initial inquiry.

It's incomprehensible to me that, under the circumstances described, a thinking person in authority higher on the food chain would not easily and immediately see a "deedback" as the most obvious, expedient (and compassionate) solution for all concerned from all possible perspectives. Foreclosure will cost the resort (unrecoverable) money "out of pocket" --- with no chance whatsoever of ever seeing any maintenance fees, present or future. Credit rating impact in the future is also clearly and completely irrelevant under the circumstances described.

I recommend the OP make some more phone calls, reaching higher and higher up the food chain to discuss this situation rationally with someone in actual authority; presumably someone possessing more brains and less attitude than encountered to date...

 

[djs]

Perhaps sending something in writing might be the way to go. A letter has a better chance of making it's way up the food chain.

 

[theo]

Need a good address...

Perhaps sending something in writing might be the way to go. A letter has a better chance of making it's way up the food chain.

A good idea, but in order to successfully move "upward" it would surely help to get the correspondence directly into the hands of the HOA / BOD / Management Company; i.e., not just risk it reaching a "dead end" with a front desk lackey handling the everyday incoming mail at the resort itself. "Return receipt requested" for a certified mail letter would (if legible) help provide and confirm the precise identity of the recipient.

Perhaps someone familiar with the resort in question --an owner perhaps? --- could provide the OP with a specific OFF SITE address for the BOD / HOA and /or management company?