My mom went to some sort of dinner event at a restaurant set up by a company called "Legal Consulting Inc." based out of Destin, FL (advertised via a mass mailed flyer, which she didn't tell me was the impetus until after she signed...). They convinced her to have them help her unload her three timeshares, for a price of $21K (between their service fee and supposedly needing to buy out 3 years of maintenance fees in order to off-load them).
I wasn't even informed of this meeting by her (by phone; I live in a different state) until she had been there for 4 hours. I tried to look up about the company and I saw they had an A+ rating with BBB but no complaints/reviews/etc... She said she had to go, and I kept doing research and tried calling back, but she didn't answer until the contract had been signed.
These people used the same high pressure sales tactics and lure of a free meal you'd expect from the timeshare companies themselves. They claimed that by meeting w/ her to discuss her options, they were legally required to inform the timeshare of what was discussed and that it would be more difficult to get out of it later as a result. But then when I got her back on the phone post-signing and I questioned that, he claimed there was a "miscommunication" and that wasn't right. He also cited "recent Florida law changes" making the off-loading of timeshares more difficult, specifically HB 7025 in 2013 (he said 2018) and HB 453 in 2015. But my reading of them doesn't seem to match w/ what he claimed.
The thing is.... my mom wanted to keep her timeshares. My sister and I just didn't want to inherit them. My sister was there with her and very adamant about getting rid of them, and apparently they used manipulative language about "not wanting to saddle your children with these timeshares". I tried my best w/ my frantic last second research and brought up disclaiming a timeshare in the inheritance and creating a revocable trust in the estate to isolate the timeshares from the rest of the estate, but the rep claimed that the above cited laws did away with those options.
I'm...exasperated. I'm pleading and begging w/ mom to talk to her estate attorney and the attorney general to verify their claims and to possibly get out of this mess. It happened on Thursday, hopefully it's not too late... My sister is obstinate and convinced this was the only way out.
Any advice on what to do? Anyone ever heard of or have experience with this company before? I don't doubt (should I?) that they'll get rid of the timeshares and the contract (all one page of it!) guarantees her money back if they fail to do so within 6 months. I just think she could've done this for way less money on her own, and that if she wanted to keep the timeshares, there's no law on earth that can force you to take an inheritance.
Thanks for your help.
Submitted October 13, 2021 at 01:01AM by NewHomeQs https://ift.tt/2YH1uYx
