New Contract

[Goosey515]

I currently own points at OKW. For years my mother has traveled with my son and I and loves DVC and OKW in particular. My father passed away last October and since then the annual summer OKW trip has been something she has been looking forward to more than usual. The other day she hit me up with the fact that she wants to buy a DVC contract at OKW. She wants to deed it so she and I are joint owners with rights of survivorship. I know she is thinking that this purchase will enable us to travel for 10-12 days in the summer (rather than our usual 9-10) as well as a trip during the winter. She also wants this purchase to be something my son and I can continue to enjoy (and something he can hopefully enjoy with his own family) after she is gone. My question is about how the points will be accessed. When making a reservation will I automatically have access to both sets of points on my login and she will also have access to the points she purchased once she has an account?

I am a teacher so we tend to travel in July. I have an August use year...not ideal, but the contract was good when I bought it and in the middle of a cold, snowy winter three years ago use year wasn't the least bit important!!! She is looking at either an April or an August use year. August is easier I know because it would be just one use year to "deal with" but the April contract is a little better deal. Not sure which way she will go...can't really lose either way though!

Any info about how the points will be accessed would be appreciated!

 

[Dean]

I currently own points at OKW. For years my mother has traveled with my son and I and loves DVC and OKW in particular. My father passed away last October and since then the annual summer OKW trip has been something she has been looking forward to more than usual. The other day she hit me up with the fact that she wants to buy a DVC contract at OKW. She wants to deed it so she and I are joint owners with rights of survivorship. I know she is thinking that this purchase will enable us to travel for 10-12 days in the summer (rather than our usual 9-10) as well as a trip during the winter. She also wants this purchase to be something my son and I can continue to enjoy (and something he can hopefully enjoy with his own family) after she is gone. My question is about how the points will be accessed. When making a reservation will I automatically have access to both sets of points on my login and she will also have access to the points she purchased once she has an account?

I am a teacher so we tend to travel in July. I have an August use year...not ideal, but the contract was good when I bought it and in the middle of a cold, snowy winter three years ago use year wasn't the least bit important!!! She is looking at either an April or an August use year. August is easier I know because it would be just one use year to "deal with" but the April contract is a little better deal. Not sure which way she will go...can't really lose either way though!

Any info about how the points will be accessed would be appreciated!

IF you title it differently it will be treated like 2 separate owners. It likely will be accessible under your login but not side by side or directly combined with what you have now. The same is true if you title it the same but get a different UY. Still, there are ways to work them so you can use points from both contracts for a single trip, it just takes a little more effort and in many of the scenarios you'll have to call rather than just reserve online. It sounds like you're looking at a small contract, the downside may outweigh the UY benefits if so for separate contracts. Of course you could buy a larger better contract and sell what you have but that also is almost never worth it.

 

[Goosey515]

Thank you for the reply.

I guess why she is looking to deed it jointly is because I have a sibling who, while she has no interest at all in Disney, would suddenly have an interest if she knew there might be something in it for her. My mother basically wants this to be something we can enjoy now as well as being a "later in life gift" for my son and I. My son is 6 and we have been on 8 trips together. The three of us "get" Disney!

For ease of reservations maybe she should buy it yet have it fully deeded in my name. That would bypass the access question. I want her to have the ability to utilize the DVC perks (discounted tickets primarily) so that deeding scenario wouldn't help that. I guess we will have to look into the deeding. If she is an associate member with me as the "owner" would she have access to the DVC perks? We live in the same town, but she has her own home.

I actually have 300 points and she is looking at around 200. Not really a small contract...but allows us the size villa we like at the busier times we can travel due to my work.

 

[DVCBrian]

I currently own points at OKW. For years my mother has traveled with my son and I and loves DVC and OKW in particular. My father passed away last October and since then the annual summer OKW trip has been something she has been looking forward to more than usual. The other day she hit me up with the fact that she wants to buy a DVC contract at OKW. She wants to deed it so she and I are joint owners with rights of survivorship. I know she is thinking that this purchase will enable us to travel for 10-12 days in the summer (rather than our usual 9-10) as well as a trip during the winter. She also wants this purchase to be something my son and I can continue to enjoy (and something he can hopefully enjoy with his own family) after she is gone. My question is about how the points will be accessed. When making a reservation will I automatically have access to both sets of points on my login and she will also have access to the points she purchased once she has an account?

I am a teacher so we tend to travel in July. I have an August use year...not ideal, but the contract was good when I bought it and in the middle of a cold, snowy winter three years ago use year wasn't the least bit important!!! She is looking at either an April or an August use year. August is easier I know because it would be just one use year to "deal with" but the April contract is a little better deal. Not sure which way she will go...can't really lose either way though!

Any info about how the points will be accessed would be appreciated!

Thank you for the reply.

I guess why she is looking to deed it jointly is because I have a sibling who, while she has no interest at all in Disney, would suddenly have an interest if she knew there might be something in it for her. My mother basically wants this to be something we can enjoy now as well as being a "later in life gift" for my son and I. My son is 6 and we have been on 8 trips together. The three of us "get" Disney!

For ease of reservations maybe she should buy it yet have it fully deeded in my name. That would bypass the access question. I want her to have the ability to utilize the DVC perks (discounted tickets primarily) so that deeding scenario wouldn't help that. I guess we will have to look into the deeding. If she is an associate member with me as the "owner" would she have access to the DVC perks? We live in the same town, but she has her own home.

I actually have 300 points and she is looking at around 200. Not really a small contract...but allows us the size villa we like at the busier times we can travel due to my work.

First, congratulations on having your own multi-generation family tradition, DVC!

Observations for you to consider:

1) Use Year only matters if you want to assure the flexibility to cancel a trip and be assured the ability to bank points. If plans are firm/concrete, then Use Year does not matter.

2) To get "DVC Perks", your mother's contract has to be in her name/address. The rest of the titling of the contract should be whatever accomplishes the end of life goal she wants to achieve.

3) Having separate contracts at OKW should work just fine. Here's what you could do. Book the first x days of a July trip using your contract's points. Then, book the remaining y days of the trip using your mother's points. At 11 months, there should be no issues making an OKW reservation in July. Make sure you book both reservations using the identical OKW room booking category. In each booking, include the identical occupant names in the reservation. Then, call DVC and ask them to link the two reservations - you should then only have to check in once, and it will act like it was one continuous reservation.

Good luck!

 

[Dean]

Thank you for the reply.

I guess why she is looking to deed it jointly is because I have a sibling who, while she has no interest at all in Disney, would suddenly have an interest if she knew there might be something in it for her. My mother basically wants this to be something we can enjoy now as well as being a "later in life gift" for my son and I. My son is 6 and we have been on 8 trips together. The three of us "get" Disney!

For ease of reservations maybe she should buy it yet have it fully deeded in my name. That would bypass the access question. I want her to have the ability to utilize the DVC perks (discounted tickets primarily) so that deeding scenario wouldn't help that. I guess we will have to look into the deeding. If she is an associate member with me as the "owner" would she have access to the DVC perks? We live in the same town, but she has her own home.

I actually have 300 points and she is looking at around 200. Not really a small contract...but allows us the size villa we like at the busier times we can travel due to my work.

The only way to keep it completely away from other family members who might be in the loop would be to deed it in your name and not hers but that wouldn't help with the perks unless she lives at the same address as someone else on the deed. Associate members don't have automatic access to perks. You could do Tenants in Common and specify a very small % to your mom and then she could specify the remainder to go to you in her will. That would decrease any claim others might have to the membership but wouldn't remove the risk completely. She should be able to stay under the gift tax exclusion in this situation as well if planned appropriately. I'd get a different home resort either way to have more options.

 

[lawgator]

I currently own points at OKW. For years my mother has traveled with my son and I and loves DVC and OKW in particular. My father passed away last October and since then the annual summer OKW trip has been something she has been looking forward to more than usual. The other day she hit me up with the fact that she wants to buy a DVC contract at OKW. She wants to deed it so she and I are joint owners with rights of survivorship. I know she is thinking that this purchase will enable us to travel for 10-12 days in the summer (rather than our usual 9-10) as well as a trip during the winter. She also wants this purchase to be something my son and I can continue to enjoy (and something he can hopefully enjoy with his own family) after she is gone. My question is about how the points will be accessed. When making a reservation will I automatically have access to both sets of points on my login and she will also have access to the points she purchased once she has an account?

I am a teacher so we tend to travel in July. I have an August use year...not ideal, but the contract was good when I bought it and in the middle of a cold, snowy winter three years ago use year wasn't the least bit important!!! She is looking at either an April or an August use year. August is easier I know because it would be just one use year to "deal with" but the April contract is a little better deal. Not sure which way she will go...can't really lose either way though!

Any info about how the points will be accessed would be appreciated!

If you want to be able to use the points seamlessly on both contracts they do have to be titled exactly the same with the same use year. You could consider adding her first to your own contract as a joint tenant with the rights of survivorship. It would be a gratuitous transfer, so while Disney would require it to go through ROFR, it would pass with no problems. You could probably even draw up the deed and do this yourself with minimal cost (see threads on this board how to do this). Then, after the one you currently own has been transferred to both of you, buy another contract with the same use year and title it the exact same way. You could then use the contracts seamlessly with the same login and membership number. It will take awhile to accomplish all this, buy the end result would be what you want. Whenever one of you passes away on the deed it will go automatically without probate to the other person who is surviving. Another option is for her to just put the contract she buys just in your name (as yours is now), but she wouldn't get any DVC perks/discounts if she did this as she would not be considered a member. She could be made an associate member to make reservations.
Finally, if you just want to leave your contract as it is, at least recommend to her that she buys the same use year on the one she wants to get. It would then be easier to transfer points from one contract to another and keep track of them. (You are allowed to transfer points one time per year per DVC rules). You could still make her an associate member on your contract if you want her to have access to those points to make reservations. Good luck.

 

[nalajms]

The only way to keep it completely away from other family members who might be in the loop would be to deed it in your name and not hers but that wouldn't help with the perks unless she lives at the same address as someone else on the deed. Associate members don't have automatic access to perks. You could do Tenants in Common and specify a very small % to your mom and then she could specify the remainder to go to you in her will. That would decrease any claim others might have to the membership but wouldn't remove the risk completely. She should be able to stay under the gift tax exclusion in this situation as well if planned appropriately. I'd get a different home resort either way to have more options.

Couldn't it be titled Joint Tenants with rights of survivorship? My understand of this is if one party passes away, the other parties assume full ownership and that the estate wouldn't have claims on the property.

That's how we titled the contracts I share with my mom.

 

[Dean]

Couldn't it be titled Joint Tenants with rights of survivorship? My understand of this is if one party passes away, the other parties assume full ownership and that the estate wouldn't have claims on the property.

That's how we titled the contracts I share with my mom.

Potentially but it would create other issues, esp if the mom were the second to pass. I do think a lawyer needs to be involved and that would eat much of the potential savings.