What Do We Do With The Timeshare or Vacation Week?
That timeshare or vacation week you bought as newlyweds for Spring Break has broken your settlement negotiations, huh? If you can sell and make a profit, do it. You will spend more money in attorney fees arguing who gets to go on vacation when than the vacation is worth. More often, however, parties cannot sell. What can you do?
If you have children, build the timeshare or vacation week into a parenting time schedule. Each parent will take the children on vacation on a rotating schedule. For example, if you have one week in the summer, Mom will take the children on even years and Dad on odd years.
If you do not have children, again, consider awarding the timeshare or vacation week to one party and moving forward. This may include awarding the other party an offset from other marital property, so be sure to value it appropriately. Your financial expert is your best friend here – you might even enter a stipulation with your spouse to retain one expert who will produce a binding value. That way, you save time and attorney fees arguing over competing values.
Or, you might flip a coin. I had a client do that. She lost – but she did take considerable joy in seeing the judge add a coin flip provision to her divorce decree, to her ex-husband’s resentment and rolling eyes.