Putting DVC into a trust or corp name

[NJOYURLIFE]

We are considering putting our DVC into a trust. If we go this route, who would actually be entitled to receive the DVC owner benefits? Only the trustees or only the beneficiaries or both?

Another scenario that was presented to us from the legal department of a different timeshare that we own was to put our timeshares into a trust and name our sub s corp as trustee. We were told that then all of the officers of the sub s corp can receive benefits.

I am not looking for legal advise in regards to trusts-we have an attorney for that. However, I am just looking for information on how DVC handles them. I want to preserve my annual pass discount not to mention the discounted local calls and free video/dvd rentals and pool hopping rights.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Chuck S]

I think I heard that local calls are free, starting in 2007. For all WDW guests, not just DVC

 

[Granny]

I am not looking for legal advise in regards to trusts-we have an attorney for that. However, I am just looking for information on how DVC handles them. I want to preserve my annual pass discount not to mention the discounted local calls and free video/dvd rentals and pool hopping rights.

Thanks in advance.

Lisa...I would imagine that there aren't a lot of people here who have done that. Even if they have, I'd still have the same advice....call your Guide. They should be able to point you in the direction of someone who does know exactly what you need to do. For something as important as this, I personally would want it straight from Disney.

Good luck.

 

[mjfox]

I have two contracts in a trust name. The first had to be done after closing on a resale with a deed change. The second contract was done through DVC and they placed it in the same trust name as our original one. I had to send DVC a copy of the whole trust agreement.

As far as rights - I think you have to notify who has rights in your trust and DVC will use the same persons in your trust. I have a living trust so my wife and I are the current trustees.

I hope this helped. You could call MS and ask accounting these questions and they should be able to help further.

 

[JimMIA]

Our DVC is owned by a family trust, and all of the trustees (myself and two adult daughters) have access to the account and member cards. I'm not positive, but I believe all of our spouses are also listed as associates and have cards.

I would call Member Administration with these types of questions. I think they'd be much more knowledgeable than your guide. My guide would tell me whatever they thought I wanted to hear.

As far as whether a trust/corporate ownership is a good thing or bad thing, I would rely on the lawyers for that. That's going to depend a lot on your personal circumstances and none of us here (or your guide) have any idea what those are.

 

[Granny]

I would call Member Administration with these types of questions. I think they'd be much more knowledgeable than your guide. My guide would tell me whatever they thought I wanted to hear.

Jim...I agree with this. I really suggested to call the Guide because he/she should know who to contact with the question. I wasn't sure if it would be Member Accounting or some other section. I agree that the Guide is not the person to seek an answer from, and I've amended my post to reflect that. Thanks.

 

[dianeschlicht]

Thanks for asking! We have been contemplating doing the same thing, and I wasn uncertain if it was possible with the DVC contracts or not.

 

[JimMIA]

The question I would ask anyone considering putting something like DVC in a trust is WHY?

What is it you hope to gain by titling a DVC ownership in the name of a trust? Just because someone recommends you use a trust doesn't mean they have the vaguest clue what trusts are all about -- even if they are lawyers. Anyone considering a trust needs to have expert legal counsel from someone who specializes in trusts in the state where the trust will be established.

When you re-title an existing asset in the name of a trust, you are transferring ownership of that asset to the trust. If you can't think of a sound reason for giving the asset away, maybe there isn't a sound reason.

The reason we have our DVC in the name of a trust is the trust bought the DVC membership, and therefore owns the asset.

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

In our scenario, we are considering putting all of our timeshares into a trust in order to avoid probate in 8 different states. We own quite a bit of timeshares (timesharing and traveling is a fun hobby for us) and one of them has VIP benefits that we would like to see preserved by keeping the ownership intact rather then having it divided into 3 different ownerships that would have no or limited VIP benefits. Our DVC ownership is really quite minor compared to our other ownerships, but after seeing how the trust will help all of children utilize ownership benefits from the other timeshare ownership, I wondered if putting DVC into the trust would help all of our children utilize the benefits of being a DVC owner such as the annual pass discount. Of course, right now all of our children are still minors, so everything is just in planning stages. Our initial estate plan for our DVC points was to just have enough small contracts to spread around rather than one large one, not thinking about the word "probate". But since we are going to be establishing the trust for the other timeshare ownership, we may just be better off putting the DVC into it also.

I'll have to remember to give member administration a call to get 100% accurate information. The main question that I have is who exactly would be entitled to the benefits. It sounds like in your case, Jim, it is the co-trustees. I am also going to have to do some basic research on what exactly associates are.