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Estate Handling of a TS (by Carvan A.):

Jayjay says:

"All owners will die sooner or later so if a resort took back weeks from deceased owners it would one day go bankrupt due to lack of paid maintenance fees. A resort's bread and butter are mainteance fees."

Response: Most heirs are glad to take timeshares in prime locations in desireable seasons and once they are owners they continue to pay the MFs. It is the worthless timeshares than end up back in the hands of the resorts due to foreclosure. These are usually resold by the resort and the new owner pays the MFs. I am aware of a poorly managed resort that had about a third of their owners "walk away" from the timeshares but the last report I saw indicated that resort had sold all but five of the units. The buyers on EBay who think they are getting a bargain for a $1 soon discover to their dismay that they have purchased someone else's lemon.

The poorly managed resorts that can not resell the timeshares should go bankrupt. This would enable their poor owners who cannot sell their worthless timeshare to at least get something in the liquidation.

Jayjay says:

"The same would be said of any debt the deceased owes after his/her death. The estate is responsible for those debts."

Response: Actually it is very rare for the decedent to "owe" or incur any debts after his/her death. This could occur when using an accural method of accounting but this situation would not apply to timeshare MFs. The debts due at the date of death are the responsibility of the estate and there is a time frame for the creditor (resort) to file a claim for these debts. The worthless timeshare is not an albatross around the executor's neck into infinity as there are time limits for the resort to claim and collect these MFs