DVC in a living trust

[mikron]

We did with at the time 7 memberships. It protects the memberships and transfers to dependent you name without any other court issues. We just gave my Brother 2 memberships and it was an easy transfer for short money.

 

[CarolMN]

One advantage of a trust is privacy. Wills / probate are public. Trusts are not.

 

[MouseOfCards]

This exact same thing happened to us a couple months ago. There was a lot going on and we forgot to mention our trust, so the contract went through ROFR under our names. After getting through ROFR, we mentioned to the title company that we had wanted to put it in our trust. We had to send them the paperwork for the trust etc, but it wasn't an issue. We didn't have to go through ROFR again and it really didn't take the title company any extra time to make this change for us. My guess is since we are the trustees and the only people on the DVC contract that it wasn't an issue.

Which title company did you use? Thanks in advance!

 

[pirate33]

Yikes! Please consult a lawyer in your state of residence about this. One of the primary purposes of putting real estate in a living trust is to avoid probate Putting title in a tenancy in common does not avoid probate nor is that a substitute for estate planning.

 

[Moniqu17]

MouseOf Cards we went thru Fidelity. Also, we consulted our lawyer about it first and was told to put it in our trust.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

We also set up a living trust recently (last week). Ultimately we decided not to put our DVC membership into the trust. Since you are transferring DVC, there will be a new deed recorded, and with the new resale membership changes, I wasnt sure if it would cause problems with our perks. Theoretically it *shouldn't* based on what others have said, but for us that risk wasn't worth the small benefit. Our house, bank accounts, everything else went in though.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

We also set up a living trust recently (last week). Ultimately we decided not to put our DVC membership into the trust. Since you are transferring DVC, there will be a new deed recorded, and with the new resale membership changes, I wasnt sure if it would cause problems with our perks. Theoretically it *shouldn't* based on what others have said, but for us that risk wasn't worth the small benefit. Our house, bank accounts, everything else went in though.

The thing is you still risk probate not putting your DVC in the living trust. And an out of state probate if not a Florida resident. This could get costly. Avoiding probate is one of the major benefits in establishing the trust in the first place.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

The thing is you still risk probate not putting your DVC in the living trust. And an out of state probate if not a Florida resident. This could get costly. Avoiding probate is one of the major benefits in establishing the trust in the first place.

Yes, you're right. We did set up our will to have all our remaining assets transferred into our living trust upon our death, which was recommended by our lawyer, and the DVC membership is listed on that. Won't avoid probate necessarily but hopefully will streamline the process. My kids will just have to suck it up and take the loss. I'm not jeopardizing our DVC Membership perks so my kids can save on estate taxes. They can pry my DVC membership card from my cold dead hands, lol.

 

[MouseOfCards]

The thing is you still risk probate not putting your DVC in the living trust. And an out of state probate if not a Florida resident. This could get costly. Avoiding probate is one of the major benefits in establishing the trust in the first place.

Agree! That's the main reason we wanted to do this.

 

[MouseOfCards]

MouseOf Cards we went thru Fidelity. Also, we consulted our lawyer about it first and was told to put it in our trust.

Thanks! Our rep wasn't able to respond with certainty when we asked about this, but everything turned out okay.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

Agree! That's the main reason we wanted to do this.

I'm glad it worked out for you. For sure, all things being equal, it's better to put as many of your assets as possible into your trust due to probate and for tax purposes. If we ever add on, we'll probably put it in our trust. Hopefully it's not too difficult. Our lawyer said she would provide us with instructions on how to add things to our trust in the future.

 

[BWV Dreamin]

I'm glad it worked out for you. For sure, all things being equal, it's better to put as many of your assets as possible into your trust due to probate and for tax purposes. If we ever add on, we'll probably put it in our trust. Hopefully it's not too difficult. Our lawyer said she would provide us with instructions on how to add things to our trust in the future.

Your DVC contracts have to be titled in the name of your trust or trusts ( my DH has one as do I). To put your current contracts in the trust you will need to change the deed and retitle them in the name of your trust. The cost is the same as if you were changing the names on the deed. Cost through DVC was about $400/contract about three years ago. This can be done through Member Administration. We decided to sell and buy new contracts so we never had to do this. We also had to provide DVC with a letter from our attorney( Letter of Opinion) stating the existence of the will and validating the names. So it's much cheaper to do this when purchasing then after the fact.

 

[DVCjj]

Yes, you're right. We did set up our will to have all our remaining assets transferred into our living trust upon our death, which was recommended by our lawyer, and the DVC membership is listed on that. Won't avoid probate necessarily but hopefully will streamline the process. My kids will just have to suck it up and take the loss. I'm not jeopardizing our DVC Membership perks so my kids can save on estate taxes. They can pry my DVC membership card from my cold dead hands, lol.

We also set up a Trust last week and between an doofus attorney who made a million mistakes and figuring out what to do with my 2 Resale DVC contracts, my head feels like it's about to explode. This has not been a pleasant experience for me. (DH puts anything financial in my hands for 52 years).

My issue is exactly what you mentioned. I am very fearful that these 2 resales (2014) will somehow change status when retitling (is that a word?) to the Trust. I also do not want my Membership Card pried out of my cold dead hands (ha!) and am leaning on the side of 'not rocking the boat'. Let the adult children 'deal with it'. I'm doing so much already to make life more streamlined when we're gone but this is getting ridiculous.

DVC administration has been no help whatsoever in the numerous calls I've made with questions and assurances (none) and all they've supplied is forms and the good advice to use a Title Company or Attorney in the State of FL. (I am in Illinois).

To complicate matters, I had wanted to buy a small Poly contract to make me 'legit' but 100% torn on how it should be titled:
- In the Name of the Trust (meaning a different Membership # which I do not want).
- In the same Joint names as the Resales and when my stress level calms down...in a year or two....change all 3 over to the Trust (accepting the added expense of that 3rd contract which could have been titled to the Trust)
therefore, salvaging the ONE Membership.

Every time I see this new Trust Binder on my desk & know that we have to go to 3 banks & Schwab to change things over tomorrow, I want to throw the Binder out the window.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

We also set up a Trust last week and between an doofus attorney who made a million mistakes and figuring out what to do with my 2 Resale DVC contracts, my head feels like it's about to explode. This has not been a pleasant experience for me. (DH puts anything financial in my hands for 52 years).

My issue is exactly what you mentioned. I am very fearful that these 2 resales (2014) will somehow change status when retitling (is that a word?) to the Trust. I also do not want my Membership Card pried out of my cold dead hands (ha!) and am leaning on the side of 'not rocking the boat'. Let the adult children 'deal with it'. I'm doing so much already to make life more streamlined when we're gone but this is getting ridiculous.

DVC administration has been no help whatsoever in the numerous calls I've made with questions and assurances (none) and all they've supplied is forms and the good advice to use a Title Company or Attorney in the State of FL. (I am in Illinois).

Sorry you haven't had a good experience so far, it is certainly confusing. I suspect that it should be OK to transfer to a trust from a membership point of view, but I think that if it got screwed up somehow, it would be a nightmare to fix. Maybe you could consider putting one contract in the trust and keeping the other one out? If you end up buying direct, then it really shouldn't matter either way what happens to your 2014 contracts because your direct contract will give you all the perks.

To complicate matters, I had wanted to buy a small Poly contract to make me 'legit' but 100% torn on how it should be titled:
- In the Name of the Trust (meaning a different Membership # which I do not want).
- In the same Joint names as the Resales and when my stress level calms down...in a year or two....change all 3 over to the Trust (accepting the added expense of that 3rd contract which could have been titled to the Trust)
therefore, salvaging the ONE Membership.

Every time I see this new Trust Binder on my desk & know that we have to go to 3 banks & Schwab to change things over tomorrow, I want to throw the Binder out the window.

I'm not sure if putting it the name of the Trust will necessarily mean that you have to have a separate membership, because you will still be the member. Our lawyer gave us instructions on how to put future real estate in our Trust, and it looks like this:

"Billy Jones and Sarah Smith, as Trustees, or any successor Trustee, of the Smith-Jones Family Trust, under agreement dated April 13, 2016"

So, your names are actually on the deed. I don't know what happens after you die, but it doesn't seem important enough to worry about at this point.

If you are going to buy direct, you should probably just put it in the trust when you buy it, otherwise you will have to transfer the deed again later on (and again risk losing your perks).

 

[DVCjj]

Sorry you haven't had a good experience so far, it is certainly confusing. I suspect that it should be OK to transfer to a trust from a membership point of view, but I think that if it got screwed up somehow, it would be a nightmare to fix. Maybe you could consider putting one contract in the trust and keeping the other one out? If you end up buying direct, then it really shouldn't matter either way.



I'm not sure if putting it the name of the Trust will necessarily mean that you have to have a separate membership, because you will still be the member. Our lawyer gave us instructions on how to put future real estate in our Trust, and it looks like this:

"Billy Jones and Sarah Smith, as Trustees, or any successor Trustee, of the Smith-Jones Family Trust, under agreement dated April 13, 2016"

So, your names are actually on the deed. I don't know what happens after you die, but it doesn't seem important enough to worry about at this point.

If you are going to buy direct, you should probably just put it in the trust when you buy it, otherwise you will have to transfer the deed again later on (and again risk losing your perks).

Thank you for calling me down from the Ledge. After I take 8 Excedrin, I'm going to print this out and study what you were kind enough to advise. I've been discouraged because setting up the Trust was with such good intentions and I feel each step of the way has been such a struggle.

 

[Disney Dad ADL]

Thank you for calling me down from the Ledge. After I take 8 Excedrin, I'm going to print this out and study what you were kind enough to advise. I've been discouraged because setting up the Trust was with such good intentions and I feel each step of the way has been such a struggle.

Sure, no problem. Of course, I'm not a lawyer, and we live in California, so it may be good idea to double check the wording with your lawyer.

We are currently in ROFR for a second DVC contract, and we have put our trust as the "owner" so to speak worded just as I mentioned above (with our real names obviously). It's a different UY than our first contract, so it will be a separate membership number no matter what, but if we pass ROFR, I'll let you know how it turns out with the trust and everything. I am not sure of the logistics if you have one contract in the trust and one with just your names on it. However, if you buy direct, it would solve that problem. You can put both of your 2014 contracts into your trust, then buy your direct Poly contract also in your trust, and everything will be unified.

 

[JimMIA]

First of all, anybody considering a trust should hire an attorney who specializes in Trusts and Estates. It's a very specialized field, and the laws differ somewhat from state to state, so you need someone who knows what they are doing.

Secondly, anyone who has a trust should have a crystal-clear understanding of all of the instructions contained in the trust, and all of the ramifications of those instructions. There is no excuse for a trustee or beneficiary NOT knowing what a trust document says and means. If they are clueless (and a LOT are), how in the world do they know the trust actually does what they want, protects them in the way they want, gives them the financial and tax advantages they seek, etc, etc, etc?

Our timeshares, and other assets, are held in a trust. The timeshares (like all assets of the trust) are titled A, B, & C, trustees of the ABC Family Trust dated xx/xx/xxxx. The legal owner of those timeshares is the trust -- NOT the trustees. The trustees are simply those persons given the authority to make decisions for the trust. They do not individually own any of the trust assets.

Titling another timeshare purchase in the names of A, B, & C would be a totally different ownership and would NOT go in the same account as the trust assets...even though the names of the people involved were the same. Jim the person is NOT the same legal person as Jim the Trustee, and neither own any trust assets.

In the event of a death, any assets owned by the trust would be disposed of as specified in the trust document. That's what trust documents are for, and that is one reason why it is imperative that anyone with a vested interest in a trust should understand things very clearly!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Awesome explanation Jim!

 

[MouseOfCards]

Your DVC contracts have to be titled in the name of your trust or trusts ( my DH has one as do I). To put your current contracts in the trust you will need to change the deed and retitle them in the name of your trust. The cost is the same as if you were changing the names on the deed. Cost through DVC was about $400/contract about three years ago. This can be done through Member Administration. We decided to sell and buy new contracts so we never had to do this. We also had to provide DVC with a letter from our attorney( Letter of Opinion) stating the existence of the will and validating the names. So it's much cheaper to do this when purchasing then after the fact.

That's an interesting idea!

 

[MouseOfCards]

Sorry you haven't had a good experience so far, it is certainly confusing. I suspect that it should be OK to transfer to a trust from a membership point of view, but I think that if it got screwed up somehow, it would be a nightmare to fix. Maybe you could consider putting one contract in the trust and keeping the other one out? If you end up buying direct, then it really shouldn't matter either way what happens to your 2014 contracts because your direct contract will give you all the perks.

I'm not sure if putting it the name of the Trust will necessarily mean that you have to have a separate membership, because you will still be the member. Our lawyer gave us instructions on how to put future real estate in our Trust, and it looks like this:

"Billy Jones and Sarah Smith, as Trustees, or any successor Trustee, of the Smith-Jones Family Trust, under agreement dated April 13, 2016"

So, your names are actually on the deed. I don't know what happens after you die, but it doesn't seem important enough to worry about at this point.

If you are going to buy direct, you should probably just put it in the trust when you buy it, otherwise you will have to transfer the deed again later on (and again risk losing your perks).

First of all, anybody considering a trust should hire an attorney who specializes in Trusts and Estates. It's a very specialized field, and the laws differ somewhat from state to state, so you need someone who knows what they are doing.

Secondly, anyone who has a trust should have a crystal-clear understanding of all of the instructions contained in the trust, and all of the ramifications of those instructions. There is no excuse for a trustee or beneficiary NOT knowing what a trust document says and means. If they are clueless (and a LOT are), how in the world do they know the trust actually does what they want, protects them in the way they want, gives them the financial and tax advantages they seek, etc, etc, etc?

Our timeshares, and other assets, are held in a trust. The timeshares (like all assets of the trust) are titled A, B, & C, trustees of the ABC Family Trust dated xx/xx/xxxx. The legal owner of those timeshares is the trust -- NOT the trustees. The trustees are simply those persons given the authority to make decisions for the trust. They do not individually own any of the trust assets.

Titling another timeshare purchase in the names of A, B, & C would be a totally different ownership and would NOT go in the same account as the trust assets...even though the names of the people involved were the same. Jim the person is NOT the same legal person as Jim the Trustee, and neither own any trust assets.

In the event of a death, any assets owned by the trust would be disposed of as specified in the trust document. That's what trust documents are for, and that is one reason why it is imperative that anyone with a vested interest in a trust should understand things very clearly!

Useful, thanks!