Pros/Cons of your trust holding title to your timeshare

[mdurette]

Second attempt at this question as the boilded pizza didn't go very well (private joke, see my recent deleted post, wonder if I will get enough views on that now to win an award??? Ha Ha

Anyway, here is my question. Those of you that have a trust, do you put your TS ownership in it?

My trust was created after my current ownership and I never deeded it into the trust.
I'm purchasing another, but II states I need to create a separate account because ownership will be in a different name, seems like double fees until I force all my other ownerships into the trust.

Quick google searches state:
Put in the trust because it avoids probate for beneficiaries so they can continue the ownership after death (i get this). Additionally it states, but if you don't want to pass along the burden to your beneficiares then it is worth considering not putting in the trust. (this I don't get)

What I have now and will buy in the future will be worthless in terms of resale and I wouldn't want to dump them on my daughter upon our passing.

Anyones thoughts on the topic?

 

[5finny]

I have mine in a family trust
My wife and I are the trustees
Some of the ownerships predate the trust some post date it
My II account is in my and my wife's individual names " XYZ and spouse " and predates the trust
I have never said a word to II and just added new ownerships that I acquired even though they were titled XYZ and spouse as trustee of XYZ family trust
Probably not technically correct but so far as long as the names are the same the fact that some say "as trustee" has not caused an issue

 

[Luanne]

If a timeshare is in a trust can your heirs still refuse to take possession?

 

[VacationForever]

My trust attorney asked me how much were my timeshare worth in resale market. After I told her, she said leave them outside of the trust. Basically if they are worth alot of money, then you want to pass on to your heir, i.e. if they know how to sell them or use them. If they are not worth much, in our case about $30K combined, she said they are peanuts and just leave them out. That way, no one needs to mess with them if they don't want to.

 

[5finny]

I was told a beneficiary of a trust could disclaim the trust gift just the same as a beneficiary of an estate could disclaim an estate gift

For me I think a trust is a good idea

I actually have the timeshares in their own trust

That said whatever the benefits of a trust may have a trust adds another layer of complexity to the ownerships
Resorts routinely have to search for my ownership and on occasion I have been called Mr Trust

 

[klpca]

We own timeshares in multiple states (Hawaii, Arizona, Louisiana). Titling them in the name of the trust keeps them out of probate in those states and make disposal easier for a successor trustee since they don't have to go through probate first. I have seen more that one post on this board of someone trying to settle an estate and the stupid worthless timeshare is holding up everything. We don't plan to have timeshares when we die - the plan is to get rid of them in the next 15ish years, but god forbid, I am trying to streamline everything so that it isn't too hard to wrap things up.

That said, it is a pita at various times with II, and also when checking in to some resorts. They frequently have the name of the trust, not our individual names, and that always causes a bit of confusion until it gets straightened out.

Unfortunately, I had a brain fart and left our Worldmark purchase outside of the trust. It is a points based membership so I am not worried about getting rid of it as it isn't deeded and not an asset, so I cannot imagine that it would go through probate, but I also can't make any deposits into II because II is also in our trust name. I have decided to not worry about it.

 

[SmithOp]

Timeshares are generally not valuable enough to force probate, here in CA I think it's total assets over $166k. Bank accounts, retirement accounts, etc that have beneficiaries do not get pulled in to probate.

It might not be worth the hassle of changing the timeshare deeds to put them in a trust. By all means put major assets like your home(s) in the trust, and make sure all your accounts have beneficiaries recorded. Have a will to record your wishes.

 

[Patri]

Not in my trust.
The kids can take it over, or notify the resort I am dead and that’s the end of that.

 

[Brett]

Timeshares (when I owned them) were not in my trust(s) or beneficiary designations

 

[clifffaith]

When we owned Marriott, our relatives were unable to contact us in Hilton Head, despite trying numerous times, because we were entered into the system as “Trust” being our name on all timeshare reservations. As I recall it cost us money to have Marriott fix it. I don’t believe our remaining Worldmark timeshare is in the trust, which needs updated in any case.

 

[rapmarks]

Many years ago,our timeshares were in the trust, they are no longer in the trust.
You don’t want to dump them on your heirs (your words), so just let your heir write a letter, mdurette is deceased, no heirs are interested, and be done with it. You won’t need to go through probate.
I don’t see any advantage to a trust fir timeshares if all your other assets are either in the trust or have named beneficiaries.
when I decided to buy at little Sweden, I did not put my husbands name on the deed, I put my daughters name so she could use RCI too. It was totally out of the trust.

 

[mdurette]

Thanks all for your insight and confirming my thoughts. I have decided to keep out of the trust, no solid reason to put them in there since they are not worth anything and go through the hoop-la with II and RCI changing ownership names over.

 

[WinniWoman]

Second attempt at this question as the boilded pizza didn't go very well (private joke, see my recent deleted post, wonder if I will get enough views on that now to win an award??? Ha Ha

Anyway, here is my question. Those of you that have a trust, do you put your TS ownership in it?

My trust was created after my current ownership and I never deeded it into the trust.
I'm purchasing another, but II states I need to create a separate account because ownership will be in a different name, seems like double fees until I force all my other ownerships into the trust.

Quick google searches state:
Put in the trust because it avoids probate for beneficiaries so they can continue the ownership after death (i get this). Additionally it states, but if you don't want to pass along the burden to your beneficiares then it is worth considering not putting in the trust. (this I don't get)

What I have now and will buy in the future will be worthless in terms of resale and I wouldn't want to dump them on my daughter upon our passing.

Anyones thoughts on the topic?

We don’t have anything in a trust, including our timeshare.

Everything has beneficiary designations with the exception of our cars, house ( no TODs allowed in our state for those unfortunately) , and timeshare.

We told our son to just refuse to accept the timeshare, though we will hopefully get rid of it before we die. Right now we still enjoy it.

( I would think it’s easier to refuse inheritance if it’s outside a trust, also.)

 

[rapmarks]

We don’t have anything in a trust, including our timeshare.

Everything has beneficiary designations with the exception of our cars, house ( no TODs allowed in our state for those unfortunately) , and timeshare.

We told our son to just refuse to accept the timeshare, though we will hopefully get rid of it before we die. Right now we still enjoy it.

( I would think it’s easier to refuse inheritance if it’s outside a trust, also.)

You know when we made a trust the most you could leave to heirs was 600 thousand. So the big thing was to make a marital trust and voila you could now leave 1.2 million. So we did it. We went through all the work and I actually got the last thing completed for my husband last week. Now if the amount you can leave without tax goes down, we are protected because I moved a lot of assets into my husbands irrevocable trust.
But everything of my mother snd my aunts was payable on death and there were no problems.
I think the biggest thing is how things are titled
Also second marriages probably need trusts

 

[1Kflyerguy]

We have both our HGV and MVC timeshares in our Trust. We used a local and well respected attorney that specialized in estates and trusts. he recommended that if our timeshare had value, such as a Hawaii location that we include it.

Fast forward 15 years, when we did our most recent revisions to our trust, our original Attorney has retired and the new one was a lot less committed to including the timeshares. We decided to leave them in, as I didn't want to hassle and expense of changing the title.

I am not sure if our son will keep or dispose of the timeshares once we pass. Pretty good chance we would have sold them by then anyways..

 

[WinniWoman]

You know when we made a trust the most you could leave to heirs was 600 thousand. So the big thing was to make a marital trust and voila you could now leave 1.2 million. So we did it. We went through all the work and I actually got the last thing completed for my husband last week. Now if the amount you can leave without tax goes down, we are protected because I moved a lot of assets into my husbands irrevocable trust.
But everything of my mother snd my aunts was payable on death and there were no problems.
I think the biggest thing is how things are titled
Also second marriages probably need trusts

Our atty didn’t think it necessary to do a trust just for the house and cars. Probate isn’t the nightmare people think it is in uncomplicated situations. We have just one heir- our son. He could still live in the house if he wanted, do things to it, etc. Though in NH probate can be a bit long and a bit of a pain. If he didn’t want to live in it I either hate for him to have to pay the expenses while it was being probated.



I’ve been trying to get legislators I know to change this in NH to allow TODs on homes and cars, but it’s just not a priority. Hence heirs have to have lawyers handle it because doing it themselves is difficult.

Also, when one person dies ( as opposed to two at the same time) with a trust then you have to change stuff again. $$$$

I figure when one of us passes the other will reevaluate it.

 

[Luanne]

Also, when one person dies ( as opposed to two at the same time) with a trust then you have to change stuff again. $$$$

Are you sure about this? I'm fairly sure that the way our trust is written that we won't have to change anything when one of us passes. When both of us are gone then everything goes to our daughters.

 

[rapmarks]

Our atty didn’t think it necessary to do a trust just for the house and cars. Probate isn’t the nightmare people think it is in uncomplicated situations. We have just one heir- our son. He could still live in the house if he wanted, do things to it, etc. Though in NH probate can be a bit long and a bit of a pain. If he didn’t want to live in it I either hate for him to have to pay the expenses while it was being probated.



I’ve been trying to get legislators I know to change this in NH to allow TODs on homes and cars, but it’s just not a priority. Hence heirs have to have lawyers handle it because doing it themselves is difficult.

Also, when one person dies ( as opposed to two at the same time) with a trust then you have to change stuff again. $$$$

I figure when one of us passes the other will reevaluate it.

I just had a lawyer this summer (Wisconsin), tell me I did not have to take my husband off the deed that is in the trust. Just hav3 my successor trustee bring in both death certificates. I did remove my husbands name in Florida, it only cost me $10.

 

[VacationForever]

Are you sure about this? I'm fairly sure that the way our trust is written that we won't have to change anything when one of us passes. When both of us are gone then everything goes to our daughters.

Yep. Just have both names as trustees.

 

[rapmarks]

Also, the original trust’s only change was to make me sole trustee. Didn’t cost anything but postage or gas money

 

[WinniWoman]

Are you sure about this? I'm fairly sure that the way our trust is written that we won't have to change anything when one of us passes. When both of us are gone then everything goes to our daughters.

I guess what I’m meaning is if you want to retitle anything.

 

[Luanne]

I guess what I’m meaning is if you want to retitle anything.

If the titles are in the name of the trust why would you need to change anything?

 

[WinniWoman]

If the titles are in the name of the trust why would you need to change anything?

I was just thinking circumstances. Might want to add a name, etc.

 

[rapmarks]

I was just thinking circumstances. Might want to add a name, etc.

You usually don’t add names. You could add successor trustees or beneficiaries. Part of the reason for the trust us to keep the money where the original grantors want it to go. So a spouse that remarried upon death of spouse can’t decide everything goes to new person instead of children

 

[heitmullerj02]

When my husband died, Attorney asked what was outside the trust: cars and timeshare. Had me add all to trust that way successors can sign the title away, can still disclaim. otherwise it just sits there and no one can do anything since no one can sign. I imagine a beneficiary deed would also be recognized.