Adding family members to DVC deeds

[popgfd]

My DW [Nanajod] normally writes in to these forums but i have a question about adding one of my kids names to each of my several timeshare deeds for estate planning purposes. Is there a need to have something done with DVC or can i simply have my attorney just add a family member's name to each of my 7 deeds?

thx
Gil Dillon

 

[OKW Lover]

It's not quite as simple as all that. You essentially have to go through a new, but abbreviated, closing and a new deed has to be created and registered in FL. There is a charge for that, but I don't know how much.

But first, be very careful and think through what you are doing.

• By adding you're children's names to the deed, the child now has assets that may be counted when evaluating their qualification for educational assistance.
• You are also creating a "tension" with the deeds in that they have the right to use the facilities without your consent. They also have assets that may be lost during any future divorce or bankruptcy proceeding they may get dragged into.
• You also are committing them to the ongoing membership fees.

You can avoid these problems by simply specifying in your will what assets (contracts) should go to each child on your passing. Your heirs will still have to go through the closing process at that time, but the cost should be borne by your estate. This may have tax advantages if they ever decide to sell their DVC interest.

 

[disneybass]

Very good advice

 

[JodyTG]

As said above, it could turn into a huge mess...i.e. one of them files bankruptcy...goes through a divorce...etc.

My advice is not to do it, but if it's something you really want to do, just call member services and they can give you all the details.

 

[disfanforlife]

It's not quite as simple as all that. You essentially have to go through a new, but abbreviated, closing and a new deed has to be created and registered in FL. There is a charge for that, but I don't know how much.

But first, be very careful and think through what you are doing.

• By adding you're children's names to the deed, the child now has assets that may be counted when evaluating their qualification for educational assistance.
• You are also creating a "tension" with the deeds in that they have the right to use the facilities without your consent. They also have assets that may be lost during any future divorce or bankruptcy proceeding they may get dragged into.
• You also are committing them to the ongoing membership fees.

You can avoid these problems by simply specifying in your will what assets (contracts) should go to each child on your passing. Your heirs will still have to go through the closing process at that time, but the cost should be borne by your estate. This may have tax advantages if they ever decide to sell their DVC interest.

Thank you! I was wondering about this also. Great advice.

 

[n2mm]

Keep in mind that if you contract contains several smaller contracts all of the owners must be the same. I own 1 contract at SSR and 4 at BWV. They are all under the same account so they are listed as 123456.0, 123456.1, 123456.2 and so on. So all of the owners must be exactly the same. (OK, yes they tell me this each time I add on). However, if your contracts are all separate contracts with all different numbers from each other, then there's no problem there. (Hope that wasn't too confusing). We have our daughter listed on all of our contracts as an owner, but we don't have our other kids listed. She's the only one that shares our love for Disney. Yes you always have the risk of divorce or bankrupcy with your kids, but no greater than with your spouse. Only you know what is right for your family.

 

[popgfd]

Thanks for the insights. The observations on using one child makes a lot of sense to me. And i never considered our multiple contracts at OKW and BWV nor the potential impact on my 13 g-kids when they begin the college application process.

Again, many thanks

Gil

 

[Dean]

The kids will need to be adult age, 18 y/o. As noted, this becomes their asset and could be attached if they get in trouble. It will also count more against them for financial aid purposes than if not in their name. If you decide to proceed it's ROFR for each with a new deed for each and recording for all. The price could easily be $1200-1500 or more. Min price around $200 if you do all the work and write the deeds.

 

[lenshanem]

Keep in mind that if you contract contains several smaller contracts all of the owners must be the same. I own 1 contract at SSR and 4 at BWV. They are all under the same account so they are listed as 123456.0, 123456.1, 123456.2 and so on. So all of the owners must be exactly the same. (OK, yes they tell me this each time I add on). However, if your contracts are all separate contracts with all different numbers from each other, then there's no problem there. (Hope that wasn't too confusing). We have our daughter listed on all of our contracts as an owner, but we don't have our other kids listed. She's the only one that shares our love for Disney. Yes you always have the risk of divorce or bankrupcy with your kids, but no greater than with your spouse. Only you know what is right for your family.

Rats! I did not know this. Our add ons are listed as .0, .1, etc. I thought I would be able to divide them up for my kids later. So all add ons have to be willed down to the same child?!? This doesn't make sense cause you can sell your add ons separately???

 

[lenshanem]

Another question - I was gonna buy two 50 point contacts at KT as opposed to one 100 point contract. Simply so the kids can split it if they want later or we could sell off one if we wanted to. Is this a bad idea? Our other add ons are all smaller contracts - 50, 60 and 40 at BCV and VWL. I'm very confused now.

 

[RobDoc]

Rats! I did not know this. Our add ons are listed as .0, .1, etc. I thought I would be able to divide them up for my kids later. So all add ons have to be willed down to the same child?!? This doesn't make sense cause you can sell your add ons separately???

If you are talking about deeding the individual contracts (.000, .001, .002, etc) to your children thru your estate - yes, you can do that thru your will and it would have the same effect as selling the individual contracts. If you are trying to add one child to each contract and have them all part of the same master contract you may need to run that past your attorney and DVC to verify.

You could not purchase an add-on with any variation in the names already on the master deed, but once purchased, the add-on can be treated like a separate contract and retitled as such if you wish. It would still go thru ROFR, but in this case without any likely challnge. It will be treated as a separate contract once it has been retitled.

Another question - I was gonna buy two 50 point contacts at KT as opposed to one 100 point contract. Simply so the kids can split it if they want later or we could sell off one if we wanted to. Is this a bad idea? Our other add ons are all smaller contracts - 50, 60 and 40 at BCV and VWL. I'm very confused now.

Sure, that could be done and many have done similar add-ons. If you suspect you would ever want to sell a contract, no one seems to have much trouble selling the smaller ones.

 

[lenshanem]

I'm still confused with this -
"If you are talking about deeding the individual contracts (.000, .001, .002, etc) to your children thru your estate - yes, you can do that thru your will and it would have the same effect as selling the individual contracts. If you are trying to add one child to each contract and have them all part of the same master contract you may need to run that past your attorney and DVC to verify."

So I could leave all the add on contracts including the master contract to my kids all as separate contracts, but what you're saying is I couldn't leave all the add ons under the master and have each one name a different child? They would have to be "resold" back to the kids all as separate contracts (including the master) to get different names on them??? Egads.

 

[RobDoc]

...
So I could leave all the add on contracts including the master contract to my kids all as separate contracts, but what you're saying is I couldn't leave all the add ons under the master and have each one name a different child? They would have to be "resold" back to the kids all as separate contracts (including the master) to get different names on them??? Egads.

I'd verify with DVC, but if your will specifies that your DVC ownership is to be left to your children - they would collectively own all of your contracts. If you want to leave contract 1 to child #1 and contract 2 to child #2 and contract 3 to child #3 - you can certainly define that thru your estate and it would be handled when the estate is settled.

If you want to assign ownership prior to your demise, then you will need to go thru ROFR for each contract you wish to change (no big deal - DVC will authorize such a transfer of ownership without much difficulty) and those contracts would likely become new individual contracts instead of part of a master contract (much like they would be if you sold those contracts to someone outside the family). Basically any ownership changes you wish to make will need to be changed on the deed and recorded with the county.

If your deeds are currently in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Lenshanem and you want to add Son#1 to the deed, it will have to be recorded with the county and closing costs and fees will be necessary to create the new documents. If you simply leave a 50 point contract to Son#1 in your will, the estate would pick up the associated costs to make the name change and assume ownership of the membership associated with that contract.

Unless you are wanting to provide some control over the use of your contracts (or to provide membership perks) to your children at this time, you can accomplish the transfer of ownership by simply putting your wishes into your will and allow the estate to make the necessary modifications at that time.

Hopefully, someone with a better legal background can provide a more complete answer for you.

 

[lenshanem]

Thank you.

 

[disneydawn6]

I had my last small add-on (30 points} put in mine and my adult daughter's name. I did not have to go through ROFR since it was a relative. Disney just sent it to me approved. When it was recorded I sent the new recorded docs to Disney and they sent us new memberships cards with a new number to both me and my daughter. So now I have two memberships numbers. Two large contracts in my name only that I will divide between both my kids when I die and a small 30 point contact in mine and my married daughter's name, so she can get all the DVC discounts for her and her husband that she can not get since she does not live at home..... In case of a divorce etc. I can only lose the 30 points. It was a win win situation. It cost me $150. I am also going to buy another small contract of maybe 25/30 points that I will change to my second daughter and mine name when she marries so she can also get discounts when her name changes/moves out. I like the small contracts so I will not have to worry about losing much in case of bankruptcy/divorce.

 

[Cruelladeville]

We have our daughter listed on all of our contracts as an owner, but we don't have our other kids listed. She's the only one that shares our love for Disney. Yes you always have the risk of divorce or bankrupcy with your kids, but no greater than with your spouse. Only you know what is right for your family.

You like to live dangerously, don't you? One child may share your love of Disney, but you are giving her an asset worth many thousands of dollars. Your death will be stressful enough, without World War III starting because you gave one child $40,000 in assets. This type of thing tears families apart. Either give the other kids $40,000 in cash or other assets, if you have them, or consider selling the contracts and splitting the money equally.

 

[Grandbuddy]

If the contracts are titled in different combinations of names, and are no longer part of the same master - there can be problems with having to transfer points between them, if one contract does not have sufficient points to cover a full reservation. The way I understand it it is not a problem as long as there are enough points in any given contract to cover each specific night of a reservation...but things get more complicated if you need to reserve a 70- point night, and you have three separate contracts with less than 70 points in any one. Limitations on transfers would discourage me from tiltling my contracts separately.

And what if your children start to wonder, "Why did Dad drain my account for this vacation, and Susie still has her points?" Nah - all the points will stay in my (and DW's) name for now, and we'll let the kids know how many points they can plan their separate vacations with, on the alternate years when we won't be planning one large family trip. They will be associate members, and get equal contracts when I go to live in the only place I know that is better than Disney World.

 

[popgfd]

Hi
I followed Jody TG's advice and asked MS who sent a couple of forms which are fairly self-explanatory.

I was also made aware of an unexpected wrinkle which is there is not much consensus among my 4 kids and spouses who prefers OKW vs BWV. So one son prefers OKW and wife likes BWV and another daughter would prefer cash so she can buy at the new Contemporary (when/if). so my estate planning and tax avoidance plans are coming apart.

But i truly appreciate these well-thought out responses. we'll just put the options in our will and hope to avoid taxes as much as possible

 

[n2mm]

You like to live dangerously, don't you? One child may share your love of Disney, but you are giving her an asset worth many thousands of dollars. Your death will be stressful enough, without World War III starting because you gave one child $40,000 in assets. This type of thing tears families apart. Either give the other kids $40,000 in cash or other assets, if you have them, or consider selling the contracts and splitting the money equally.

Actually $60, but it's no secret in our house. Everyone knows she's on the deed, remember, she had to sign every contract. She's also the executor of our estate. WE know EXACTLY what we're doing and have been upfront with our decisions and have met with our estate lawyer. During our estate planning we have briefed her on all of our decisions. She also gets to pull the plug if that decision has to be made. We have no regret in our decision.