Advice needed (forfeiting, quit claim deed, impact, etc...)

[Crafty71]

Hello,

I have been lurking here for a while. I really appreciate all of the shared knowledge.

Here is the situation that I hope someone here can provide some advice on...

My friend is an estate executor for his deceased sister. She owned two (2) fixed, deeded timeshare weeks: one (1) week at Grandview at Las Vegas and one (1) week at The Cliffs at Peace Canyon. An internet search seems to indicate that both resorts are owned by the same company, Vacation Village Resorts (though there is also some documentation in the file that mentions "Eldorado Resorts Corporation" and he also received initial e-mail correspondence from "Daily Management Resorts").

I have explained to him that the contracts essentially have no value, so he simply wants to be rid of them. His nephews (the heirs) do not travel enough to make keeping them worthwhile.

Initially, the response from Daily Management Resorts was "You are on your own and continue to be responsible for MF until they are sold/transferred". Then another e-mail from Vacation Village Resorts says the same thing but offers "There is a Deed Back Program in affect NOW (NOT ALWAYS)" (their CAPS, not mine). The estate can, if mortgage is paid in full (I believe that it is), pay $750 to give back the contract(s) (except the e-mail then says that they don't take anything back from The Cliffs and they suggest using the foreclosure process).

It has been suggested that they use a Quit claim deed to transfer the contracts to the name of the estate in order to be able to continue paying MF. The MF have not been paid because deceased's bank account was frozen. But that seems silly because then if anyone eventually "buys" the contracts for $1, there would be two (2) resort transfer fees.

My question(s) would be: Since the contracts are owned by a deceased individual (in CANADA...I believe that is an important detail), are the heirs liable...? Should they just walk away or should they make a legitimate attempt to transfer the contract(s) to a TUGer...? What would be the consequences of simply walking away...? Most importantly, what would you do...?

Any insight that can be provided would be appreciated.

Cheers!

Kevin Craft

 

[bizaro86]

Being in Canada is a legal disadvantage here, but a practical advantage, imo. With the understanding that this isn't legal advice, I have the following research that I did for my own purposes:

https://hullandhull.com/2017/04/what-is-a-disclaimer/

Canadian legal precedent (link above) states that a beneficiary can only disclaim their entire portion of the estate, and not pick and choose. That means whoever is the residual beneficiary of the estate is probably (legally anyway) stuck with the timeshares.

On the other hand, I doubt the resort is going to hire a Canadian estate lawyer to contest the probate. If I was in this situation, I would probably pay the $750 to deed back so everything is clean, and let them know that nobody is taking the other one, and that they would be welcome to a deed back or the HOA can take it in foreclosure. There is a small risk to your friend, because an executor is personally liable for estates, so if the resort did sue in Canada after he did this he is potentially on the hook. However, I really doubt the resort is familiar with the difference between Canadian and US estate law.

YMMV, and I'm not a lawyer, just someone who owns a bunch of timeshares, lives in Canada, and did some research to include with my own estate papers.

 

[Veronica Clamor]

Hi Bizaro86,

Have you ever sold a timeshare in Canada? How? Who did you use to broker the deal?

Thanks!
Veronica