I am not an attorney but I have read my timeshare agreement and suggest you do the same. If it is like mine you will see that your agreement is governed by the Netherlands or French laws not US laws.
There is a lot of verbiage re: Lessor/Lessee. Nowhere does it state that the lessor (resort owner) can force the lessee (me) to pay for maintenance fees for life.
It does say that if I don't pay maintenance fees the agreement can be terminated which is exactly what I want if I want to end the timeshare agreement.
The only potential action that I can imagine is a posting on my credit report which I have already researched and found that an otherwise healthy credit rating will not be negatively effected by a timeshare termination.
Let common sense prevail. If you need assurance that you won't be a in trouble, contact an appropriate attorney, pay the few hundred dollars that he/she will charge to prevent you from paying thousands.