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[Q=richardw235] WE CAN NOT PAY THE HIGH FEES OR ASSESSMENTS CHARGED BY OUR RESORT AND WE HAVE DECIDED TO LET OUR DEEDED UNIT GO BY NOT PAYING NEXT YEAR'S FEES WHEN THEY ARE PRESENTED TO US. DOES ANYONE OUT THERE KNOW WHAT THE RESORT CAN COME AFTER,FOR THE UNIT IS PAID FOR AND IF IT WAS OUR HOME AND WE DID NOT PAY OUR TAXES, THE COUNTY COULD ONLY TAKE OUR HOME, FOR THAT IS WHAT THE TAXES ARE APPLIED TO. WE NEED SOME GOOD ADVICE FROM SOMEONE THAT KNOWS ABOUT THE LAWS IN POMPANO BEACH, FLORIDA. THANKS TO WHOEVER CAN HELP US A RETIRED 70 YEAR OLD COUPLE.[/Q] Your ask where one can go to get free legal advice concerning dumping a timeshare. Generally, free legal advice is worth what you pay for it but you may qualify for free legal advice in your community depending upon your financial need. I suggest you look for "Legal Aid" in the yellow pages and make a call to see if you qualify for free or discounted legal assistance. Now I will offer some free advice that will differ somewhat from that posted elsewhere in response to your question. First, you should understand the nature of your maintenance/assessment fee. Jayjay frequently refers to the maintenance fee debt as being just like any other debt such as a car payment, utilities, and so on. In reality it is not. You did not sign on the "dotted line" to pay these fees. You are obligated to pay them because of the declaration that was filed by the developer and referenced in your deed. This debt differs from other debts in that it is an "In Rem" obligation and not an "in personam" or personal debt. Personal debts are typically reported monthly on your credit report and your payment record remains there as long as the account is active or for seven years from the date of your first delinquency. Federal law requires that a bad debt be deleted from your record seven years after the first delinquency. An in rem obligation on the other hand is not reported monthly on your credit report. This does not mean that a failure to pay a maintenance fee has no consequence. It does. A failure to pay will ultimately lead to a foreclosure and loss of the property. A foreclosure is reported on your credit report not as a personal debt but instead as a negative legal action against you. Thus, a foreclosure can impact your ability to get future credit or can result in a higher interest rate because you have proven to be a poor credit risk. Most, if not all, resorts do not want to incur the financial expenses related to a foreclosure and will attempt to avoid doing so. Therefore, you should write (don't call) the resort and explain your financial circumstances and offer a "deed in lieu of a foreclosure". A letter from your legal aid attorney would carry more weight than your own letter. The resort will almost certainly reject this offer and will proceed to turn the fee over to a collection agency. It is often posted here and has been in response to your question that collection agencies will "hound" you. That type of action is forbidden by federal law and can result in penalties imposed by the Federal Government against the offender. (google FDCPA, or Federal Debt Collection Protection Act). You can prevent calls and letters from the collection agency by simply writing a "cease and desist" letter and sending it by certified mail to the offending collection agency. If they persist and a rare rogue agency will then simply refer the matter to the Federal Trade Commission. In time the resort will accept your offer to deed the property back because that is a less expensive route for them to follow. Some will not. If they foreclose on the property, you lose the property and your credit is impacted because of the legal foreclosure. It has been suggested by some in answer to your question that a failure to pay will result in a lien against all of your property. Simply failing to pay an in rem obligation will not result in a lien against your property. It is possible that the collection agency will threaten a suit to reduce the debt to a judgment. A judgement would be a lien against your real property but, a mere threat to file a suit to reduce a debt to a judgment is a violation of the above mentioned Federal Statute unless the resort intends to do so and in fact has a legal basis to do so. If you are sued for the maintenance fee then you will definitely need an attorney. Answer the suit. The declaration filed by the developer is mostly a unilateral contract in that it was written to primarily protect the resort but it usually contains language which requires the resort to meet certain standards and especially to maintain sufficient reserves to prevent exhorbitant special assessments. A counter suit alleging a violation by the resort of the standards (especially reserves) set by the declaration will almost certainly result in a settlement offer for a deed back. I have never defaulted on any obligation and with God's help will never do so. But, I recognized that sometimes bad things happen to good people. They find they have a timeshare that they cannot give away and will not be accepted by a charity, and because of financial circumstances must be turned back. If that is your case, please consult legal aid and proceed accordingly.