Trust

[mickeys girl 52]

I was wondering if anyone knows if it is easy to just transfer your contracts into a trust? Has anyone else done yet?

 

[drusba]

The answer is a kind of a yes and no. The ownership of any DVC contracts can be transferred via deed to a trust using the same process as transfering ownership to someone that purchases the property interest from the member. The deed needs to be accurate just like the one originally provided to the member by DVD, and you need to do the actual filing with the applicable government agency that retains deeds and pay all the applicable fees for the filing.

That is the “easy” part. The much more difficult part is creating the trust to which you want to transfer the property, which for many means creating what is commonly called a living trust, under which the member(s) create a trust where they are the trustees, which basically leaves them in control of things they own while they are living, but the upon the death of the members property is distributed as provided in the trust. It typically includes the process of having all the real property the members own transferred by deed to the trust, and the result is that upon death of the members, all such property escapes probate because the actual legal owner, the trust, is still living. Such trusts have many provisions, including designating a new trustee after death of the members, provisions that state what can be done if the trustees become non-functional. Usually also created is a will for the members, which actually can be fairly short because it is designed to will any property not owned by the trust, including any personal property not actually transferred to the trust before death, to the trust which provides distribution provisions to take place upon the death of the members.

One should hire an attorney, preferably one that concentrates in trust and probate matters, to do the trust.

 

[Rex1993]

Drusba did a nice job of explaining the basics of a trust. I concur that if you haven't done your estate planning, you should get a competent attorney specializing in that area of law to assist. One thing I will caution is that transferring timeshares to a trust shouldn't always be a foregone conclusion. With DVC, I don't think there's much risk and I have all of my DVC contracts in my trust. With others, I would consult with the attorney about the differences between probate treatment and trust treatment at death with respect to timeshares. For example, if you have a crummy timeshare that has basically no value, your heirs may be better off letting it die in the probate system than having to deal with it as a trust asset.

 

[mickeys girl 52]

Thank you all for the wonderful advice.

 

[TMax7]

I was wondering if anyone knows if it is easy to just transfer your contracts into a trust? Has anyone else done yet?

I currently have a Revocable Living Trust in place. When I bought direct through Disney, all I had to do was fill out a specific form for a trust that DVC gives you, get it notarized, and send it back to them. It was a very easy process. I am not sure how this works through resale?

 

[Rex1993]

I've done both. Our first contract was a resale and it was just like buying a house where you take title to your trust. You just inform the title company that's what you want to do.