Transcript:
Hello. My name is Jonathan Barlow, I'm a probate attorney here at Clear Counsel Law Group. I often get asked questions about timeshares interests and how those are transferred after somebody dies through the probate process.
With the First Conversation Free, There is No Reason Not to Call
If you have questions about a timeshare interest, we offer a free 30 minute consultation to answer any questions you might have about a timeshare, or any other assets that you're dealing with in a probate situation.
We do that with no obligation to you. Oftentimes, during that 30 minute consultation, we can answer all of your questions.
You don't have to pay us anything for that. Or, if we haven't been able to answer all of your questions, we'll give you a road map of how to resolve them and give you an estimate of the fees that it would cost to get there.
If you have any questions after watching this video, please feel free to give me a call and I'll do the best I can to answer that during the consultation.
Let's imagine that you had called me and explained to me that your mother had passed away, and she had a timeshare interest, and you wondered how you'd get that transferred to you through probate.
Typically, timeshares are one of two types. There's personal property timeshares, and there's real property timeshare interests. Let me explain to you what a personal property is, because those are a little bit easier to deal with.
How to Probate Personal Property Timeshares
A personal property timeshare interest is when mom purchases what we call a membership interest in a timeshare company.
Let's call them Timeshares R Us.
Timeshares R Us convinces mom that if she purchases this membership interest, she can stay at any of their properties throughout the world for one or two weeks, whatever the case may be. She might stay in Las Vegas, she might stay in Florida, Hawaii, Europe, something like that.
It entitles her to a one week time at any of their units throughout the world. That's a personal property interest. Those personal property timeshare interests are transferred through probate in the state where mom died.
If mom died here in Nevada, the Nevada court would handle the transference of that timeshare interest.
If she died in Wisconsin, Wisconsin laws will apply and you'd go through Wisconsin probate process to accomplish that transfer.
How to Probate Real Property Timeshares
The second type of timeshare interest is that real property interest. It's just a house, it's like vacant land, it's an office building. That's real property or real estate.
When mom was approached by Timeshares R Us at the casino here in Las Vegas, and they convinced her to purchase the timeshare, they actually signed a deed, just like you get when you purchase your house, signed a deed over to her that said, "We are hereby deeding to you, mom, a .001468% interest in Unit #3468 at Timeshare Village R Us in Las Vegas, Nevada."
She actually owns this minute fraction of an interest in the actual property itself through a deed that's given to her by Timeshares R Us. That real property interest in that unit here in Las Vegas can only be transferred through the probate process in Nevada.
Again, if mom was a resident of Wisconsin or California or some other state, in order to transfer that real property timeshare interest, you've got to come here to Nevada to do that, and we're glad to help you work through that situation.
We've done that with timeshares many different times.
The Timeshares' Analysis Can Be Tough
Let's assume that you've determined it has to go through the probate process here in Nevada, whether it's personal property, because she was a resident here in Nevada, or because it's real property here in Nevada.
It may be really simple to transfer that property, or it may be more complex.
To answer that, we have to look at all the other assets that mom left behind, whether those are very small in nature, whether they're $25,000 and under, whether they're up to several hundred thousand dollars or more.
There's different processes that you have to go through in order to transfer that timeshare interest. The main thing to remember is that timeshare interest is treated just like any other asset, whether it's a house or a car or a bank account.
If it was in mom's name only when she passed away, it's going to require some form of a probate process where the probate court gets involved and determines and says where that interest goes now that mom has passed away.
Again, if you have questions about timeshares, we're glad to answer those questions in that free consultation. We actually do most of these consultations by phone, particularly when we have family members who are from out of state.
You're calling from Wisconsin because that's where you live, where mom was as well, we're glad to do those consultations over the phone, answer those questions over the phone, and give you the advice that you might need to get that timeshare interest resolved.
If you have questions about timeshares, transferring those through probate, or any other issue that you're facing now that mom or dad or another loved one have passed away, give us a call here at Clear Counsel Law Group.
We'll be glad to answer any questions you might have.
