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Re: death and timeshares

As Ken has twice stated all the chatter on death and timeshares is irrelevant in that the timeshare Iin question is governed by Mexico law. Annem296, with due respect, I disagree with the points you raise. 1. A common mistake made by many who create a Grantor Trust and/or Living Trust is the failure to fund the trust. They create a trust for a multitude of purposes but fail to fund it. That is, property is never transferred to the trust. For example, a husband creates an irrevocable trust granting the surviving spouse the power of invasion limited by an ascertainable standard (section 2041 of IRC) but fails to fund the trust. The intended purpose of saving estate tax fails because the trust holds no corpus for the surviving spouse to invade. A trust is a legal entity and must own the timeshare to be liable for any debts related thereto. This is true unless the plaintiff can prove the trust is merely the alter ego of the heir but again that requires expensive litigation. Please furnish a cite from the statutes of any state that makes a trust liable for timeshare maintenance fees for which there is no signed document by the decendent wherein they promised to pay the maintenance fee. The bottom line is the trust must be funded and you know that. For the sake of argument, assume the trust is in fact liable for the in rem maintenance fees, how does the Timeshare collect these fees from a trust with no assets? If your answer is by taking legal action to force the opening of a probate or legal action against the trusts or the "person in possession" then we are back to square one of my argument that a Timeshare Owners Association will not incur this expense. Certainly an heir who wishes to continue to use a timeshare owned by their deceased parent must pay the maintenance fees. There is no personal liability in that the the buyer did not sign a "promise to pay" at the time of purchase but the buyer does purchase the timeshare subject to the declaration on file creating a liability (in rem) that runs with the land. That is, if you fail to pay the maintenance fee provided in the recorded declaration you lose the land through a foreclosure. 2. The operative word is "properly noticed". The "properly noticed" requirements for an executor or administrator or even a "person in possession" are clearly set out in the various state probate codes. Once the legal notice is published the clock starts running on filing a claim. The creditor is responsible for filing the claim and their failure to do so is fatal and that is "a biggie" apparently some probate attorneys do not understand. Closing an estate while a "known or reasonably acertainable creditor" has not been paid could constitute civil fraud but here again the burden would be on the creditor to institute legal action to prove this point and this brings us back to square one of my argument. The expenses related to filing suit to recover a $500 maintenance fee for which thre is no signed promise to pay is not worth the expense involved. Lastly, you say "that many timeshare companies won't go after the esate however they've been known to go after the Excutor/Personal Representative personally." This is highly doubtful but easily proven. Please provide the case number of any case - just one - where the timeshare company went after the Executor/Personal Representative personally. I recall collection agencies especially one in the Chevy Chase section of Washington D.C. that called family members with the purpose of intimidating them into believing they were personally liable for the decedent's debts but they never actually filed a suit against the faimily member. To suggest "many" timeshare companies incur the legal expense by filing a suit to collect a $500 fee is ludicrous. The truth is and a little due diligence on your part will validate that they simply seek a deed in lieu of foreclosure or actually foreclose. Unscrupulous collection agencies frequently make incorrect claims in an attempt to collect a debt but that does not mean their actions are not in violation of the FDCPA. This is my -30- on this topic.