Selling a timeshare with a missing spouce

[rensjoe Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rensjoe]

New here and Hopefully I am posting in the right place. My wife purchase a Florida timeshare with her first husband many years ago. Well soon after they divorced after he abandoned her. During her divorce hearing he could not be located. He never paid a dime for the timeshare or any maintenance/tax bills, however the deed is in his and her name. The property is the Mystic Dunes in Florida.

We have been paying and using the timeshare now for several years, but now our kids are school age and our weeks are in Oct/Nov. She has fixed weeks.

We could take this matter to probate, but she is afraid she will not be able to locate him, or he may cause problems. At her divorce the Judge refused to split assets due to him not being able to be located so she has been stuck for years now. ( he is in and out of jail) Currently we have no idea where he may be.

Our big problem is how do we get out of this timeshare or get new weeks with out having to buy a new timeshare??? Is there anyway she can sell it?? Is there a way to just get new weeks?? We could default, but I hate to see her credit go bad. We can't even exchange it due to him being on this note.

Any suggestions or leads to help resolve this would be appreciated.

[rikkis_playpen Diamond Club Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close rikkis_playpen]

You need an attorney.. Court action will be needed to remove him from the deed.

Try contacting these two Florida attorneys, both of whom are very familiar with timeshare interests..

Joseph E Seagle, Esquire- Joseph E. Seagle - About
Long H. Duong, P.A.- Lawyer, Gainesville, FL | Law Office of Long H. Duong, P.A. | Probate, Estates, Trusts, Real Estate Lawyer

Mr. Seagle is in Orlando and owns a title company that specializes in timeshares. Mr. Duong is a probate specialist in Orlando who has handled numerous timeshare cases.

Either should be able to provide you with help and an estimate of the cost. Understand, it is likely that the legal costs will be equal to, or perhaps even greater than the selling value of your ownership on the resale market- but the difference may certainly be worth it to protect your spouse's credit rating..

The only other option would be to locate the other owner, and have him execute a quit claim deed. Based on your post, that doesn't sound very likely..

Sorry for your situation!

[rensjoe Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rensjoe]

You need an attorney.. Court action will be needed to remove him from the deed.

Try contacting these two Florida attorneys, both of whom are very familiar with timeshare interests..

Joseph E Seagle, Esquire- Joseph E. Seagle - About
Long H. Duong, P.A.- Lawyer, Gainesville, FL | Law Office of Long H. Duong, P.A. | Probate, Estates, Trusts, Real Estate Lawyer

Mr. Seagle is in Orlando and owns a title company that specializes in timeshares. Mr. Duong is a probate specialist in Orlando who has handled numerous timeshare cases.

Either should be able to provide you with help and an estimate of the cost. Understand, it is likely that the legal costs will be equal to, or perhaps even greater than the selling value of your ownership on the resale market- but the difference may certainly be worth it to protect your spouse's credit rating..

The only other option would be to locate the other owner, and have him execute a quit claim deed. Based on your post, that doesn't sound very likely..

Sorry for your situation!

Is there a way where she can use II alone so that we can use it elsewhere or different weeks?? Or does he need to sign this also?

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

It sounds as if there may be more lingering entanglements than just the timeshare. If so, it will be most cost-effective to get as many of those matters taken care of as you can in one single action.

[rensjoe Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rensjoe]

She actually divorced him over ten years ago. The judge refused to divide assets with out him present for court. We have paid off the TS and have been maintaining it all along. He stole her credit cards, bank accounts, and car. One day he just decided to leave.

He has been in jail often for fraud, theft and non payment of support to a family she did not even know he had.

My wifes biggest concern is that if he finds out his name is on this deed he will do whatever he can to cash it out and leave her empty. She had to claim bankruptcy years ago just to get back on her feet. She was unable to file charges even though she had evidence he was stealing from her.

I would love to send him a quitclaim deed and see if he will sign off on it, (as I just searched on facebook and found his profile) but she only sees this as trouble.....I would give the thing back to the time share company, but she is in love with it and has invested a lot of money into it


There are no more entanglements, just this timeshare

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

My wife and her GFs just stayed at Mystic Dunes on a rental through Hotwire.

Yeah, lots of unsettled baggage here.

Perhaps you may be missing the point that selling any timeshare, even one without baggage, is extremely problematic, especially at this point in time and especially in the Orlando area, so any amounts you have to spend to render it sellable may be good money chasing bad.

Many people are paying $2000-$4000 to get rid of their timeshares.

Have you contacted Mystic Dunes for their opin?

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

Most local bar associations have a service in which a person at a greatly reduced rate can get an initial half-hour to one hour consultation with an attorney experienced in their type of matter. My suggestion is that you contact your local bar association and request such a meeting.

+++++

Given what you describe, and as long as you want to continue owning the timeshare, your best course of action might be to just let things be. Presumably, your wife and her ex are still joint tenants with right of survivorship. So, if at some point you know that he had died, you should be able to get his name off the dead easily. If she dies first, just let the timeshare go into probate, where title will pass to him, if he can be found. If he can't be found in probate the court should likely then authorize the executor to dispose or or abandon the property in order to close the estate.

But those are matters to review in the attorney meeting that I suggested.

I know this would not be an ideal solution, but it ain't an ideal world.

[rensjoe Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rensjoe]

we spoke with an atty here a few years back and he also told us to just let it be. The problem we are facing is the fixed weeks and our kids now being school age. Can we subscribe to II and just trade out our weeks for ones we can go to or is this impossible because he is on the deed. Can My wife be the sole II member??

[T. R. Oglodyte Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close T. R. Oglodyte]

we spoke with an atty here a few years back and he also told us to just let it be. The problem we are facing is the fixed weeks and our kids now being school age. Can we subscribe to II and just trade out our weeks for ones we can go to or is this impossible because he is on the deed. Can My wife be the sole II member??

The best way to get that answered would be to ask II. Or, perhaps better, just fill out the forms to set up the II account with only your wife's name on them and not worry about it.

Don't forget about the independent exchange companies such as SFX, Trading Places, DAE, etc. The fact that the ex is on the deed doesn't make a bit of difference to them.

The only thing that matters to them is that when they contact the resort to verify that you do actually have the right to use the week you deposited with them, the resort says "Yes". Issues of deed don't come into play at all.

[rensjoe Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rensjoe]

thanks TR

Thank you everyone else for great advice

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

we spoke with an atty here a few years back and he also told us to just let it be. The problem we are facing is the fixed weeks and our kids now being school age. Can we subscribe to II and just trade out our weeks for ones we can go to or is this impossible because he is on the deed. Can My wife be the sole II member??

I am pretty sure she can join II, even if she has to have the account in both names, without his signature. Not positive, but worth trying. But be prepared - if you are depositing an off-season week, it may not be easy to trade for the school breaks you want.

[BocaBum99 Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close BocaBum99]

What a tough situation. Sounds like defaulting on it may be the best option.

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

In this case I would let sleeping dogs lie. There is no real monetary value to the ownership so he won't come after it.

She can open an account with Interval International with only her name and deposit the week as long as the fees are current. That way only she has use of the II membership.

You can then trade to weeks you can use during school breaks.

[Carolinian Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Carolinian]

Exchange companies are happy to take deposits from anyone on the deed, so that should not be a problem.

When I was an HOA board member, our resort had a live-in couple buy a week and put both names on the deed. For a couple of years, they used it on the OBX together, and then had a nasty split. He showed up at the resort office and paid m/f two years in advance and deposited the weeks into his newly opened RCI account. She hit the ceiling and refused to have anything more to do with the resort. After those two years, he quitclaimed his interest to the resort and she let her interest go to foreclosure.

[JLB Please excuse me, I'm a Dick. Not a moron just a Dick Find all posts View Profile Close JLB]

In a similar situation, I contacted a resort on behalf of certain someones who wanted me to help them, to get the lady off the deed. Then the man died.

At last report the lady has continued on with RCI, just for the benefits of Extra Vacations and Last Calls.

Not sure if the lady was ever taken off the RTU contract or what the resort has done about non-replies to them.

In the present case, I would agree with doing nothing. If the responsible party continues on and the irresponsible party remains gone, what's the problem?