Bankruptcy Trustee Trouble
Choose your bankruptcy battles wisely!
It is not a good idea to fight with your bankruptcy trustee over trivial matters. We have and always will stand up to bankruptcy trustees on behalf of our clients. However, we don’t see the benefit in bickering with a bankruptcy trustee over pay stubs, bank statements, tax returns, etc. You are obligated to provide your bankruptcy trustee with certain documents and comply with particular requests they make. This does not mean every request! Thus, it is in your best interest to know when your bankruptcy trustee is overreaching. A good bankruptcy attorney will know when to comply with a trustee’s requests and when to contest them.
New York Bankruptcy Attorney
As always, the Law Firm of VAUGHN, WEBER & PRAKOPE, PLLC, is here to assist you. We are conveniently located in the heart of Nassau County, Long Island, at 393 Jericho Tpke., #208, in Mineola, NY. Contact us at (516) 858-2620 to arrange a FREE consultation with a bankruptcy attorney.
Rent your home from BOA under its “Mortgage to Lease Program.”
Bank of America (BOA) recently issued a Press Release outlining a “Limited Pilot Test” of their “Mortgage to Lease Program.” Under this program some BOA mortgage customers will be allowed to deed their homes to BOA and become renters instead of owners.
From the BOA Press Release:
Beginning this week in targeted hard-hit markets, Bank of America will offer a limited number of mortgage customers who are facing foreclosure an opportunity to remain in their homes, but transition to tenant status, through a pilot program called “Mortgage to Lease.”
“When homeowners are struggling to make payments, owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth and face certain foreclosure, one of their greatest anxieties is the transition process they face in moving from their home,” noted Ron Sturzenegger, Legacy Asset Servicing executive of Bank of America. “This pilot will help determine whether conversion from homeownership to rental is something our customers, the community and investors will support. This program may have the potential to further round out the broad set of solutions we offer our customers in need of assistance.”
To maintain test controls, the Mortgage to Lease pilot will be conducted strictly on a solicitation basis; there will not be any opportunity for customers to volunteer or apply for consideration. Fewer than 1,000 customers will be invited to participate in the first phase of the pilot. Initial outreach has begun to preselected customers in test markets in Arizona, Nevada and New York, three states hit hard in the housing downturn. The pilot population will include customers who meet all of these requirements:
· Have loans owned by Bank of America.
· Are delinquent for more than 60 days.
· Have exhausted modification solutions or have not responded to alternatives to foreclosure, including short sale and deed-in-lieu.
· Have high loan balances in relation to their current property value.
· Face considerable risk of ultimate foreclosure.
· Have no junior liens.
· Are still occupying the home.
· Have adequate income to make an affordable rent payment.Pilot participants will transfer title to their properties to the bank and have their outstanding mortgage debt forgiven. In exchange, they may lease their home for up to three years at or below the current market rental rate. The rental payment will be less than the existing mortgage payment, and the customer will be relieved from certain other homeowner financial obligations, including property taxes and hazard insurance.
Initially, Bank of America will retain ownership of the properties, working with property management companies to oversee the rental properties. Properties in the pilot program will be transitioned to investor ownership. If the Mortgage to Lease program proves viable, it may lead to a broader program, potentially involving selected real estate investors who would purchase properties that meet their predetermined specifications and keep the previous homeowners in place as tenants.
In my opinion, this program will appeal to very few distressed homeowners. The majority of our Foreclosure Defense clients would actually like to keep their homes!
Therefore, it is unlikely that they would want to participate in such a program.
A couple of suggestions:
- Scrap this program and modify the loans of those who “Have adequate income to make an affordable rent payment.”
- Keep the program, but give homeowners a right of first refusal after the three year rental period or some other reasonable amount of time. Give the former homeowner an opportunity to repurchase “their” home instead of having the “Properties in the pilot program…transitioned to investor ownership.”
If you are facing foreclosure and need legal assistance, please call (516) 858-2620 to speak with a Foreclosure Defense Attorney!
Steven J. Baum P.C. Settles
NY Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman recently announced an agreement with New York Foreclosure Law Firm Steven J. Baum P.C., and Pillar Processing, LLC, which requires that they pay $4 million to the State of New York. $2 million of which will be used to assist homeowners facing foreclosure, or victims of predatory lending practices.
Excerpts from the Attorney General’s Press release:
The Attorney General’s investigation found that the Baum Firm routinely brought foreclosure proceedings without taking appropriate steps to verify the accuracy of the allegations or the plaintiff’s right to foreclose. From at least 2007 through sometime in 2009, Baum Firm attorneys repeatedly verified complaints in foreclosure actions stating, among other things, that the plaintiff was “the owner and holder of the note and mortgage being foreclosed,” when, in many securitized loan cases, the Baum Firm did not have documentary proof that the plaintiff was the owner and holder of the note and mortgage.
Complaints were prepared in an assembly-line fashion by non-attorney Pillar employees with inadequate attorney supervision. Baum Firm attorneys also improperly verified and notarized these complaints. Attorneys routinely signed complaint verifications — which stated, among other things, that the attorneys had read the complaints and knew their contents — without reviewing the contents of the complaints or the underlying documents such as the original note or mortgage or any mortgage assignments.
During certain time periods, attorneys often did not see complaints after they were prepared by Pillar employees. Instead, attorneys pre-signed and notarized verification and certification pages that were subsequently attached to the complaints and filed with the county clerks. Even after the practice of attaching pre-signed and notarized verification and certification pages changed, attorneys continued to verify complaints without reading them. Until sometime in 2011, the Baum Firm also failed to properly notarize documents signed by its attorneys. Baum Firm attorneys routinely signed documents without being in the notaries’ presence, and when documents were signed prior to notarization, did so without the required oath being administered. Indeed, some notaries even notarized documents that were signed by an attorney who was not present in the state at the time the documents were notarized.
The Baum Firm also repeatedly failed to timely file the Request for Judicial Intervention (RJI) required to be filed in residential foreclosure actions and a court-required affirmation attesting to the accuracy of the foreclosure summons and complaint. New York Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman implemented the attorney affirmation requirement in October 2010 in response to revelations of widespread deficiencies in foreclosure filings nationwide, including the execution of affidavits without personal knowledge of the facts, a practice referred to as “robo-signing.” The filing of the RJI triggers the scheduling of a settlement conference where potential loan modification options are explored, and also leads to notice being sent to local housing counselors that a homeowner is at risk of foreclosure so that counselors can reach out to the homeowner to provide assistance. Many homeowners were denied this assistance as a result of the Baum Firm’s failure to file RJIs in a timely manner.
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New York homeowners who believe their homes were foreclosed based upon false or inaccurate documents filed in court should seek representation from an attorney. They may also file a complaint with the New York Attorney General’s Bureau of Consumer Frauds & Protection by calling 800-771-7755 [2]or visiting www.ag.ny.gov [3].
Read the full Press Release here.
Amidst all of the emotions that a divorce case brings to the forefront, there are certain details that need to be respected. One of these details is often met with hesitation. That would be compulsory financial disclosure required by New York Domestic Relations Law. Clients seem to be very curious as to how far they can push this requirement without complying. It need only be said that failure to comply with required financial disclosure can result in penalties under CPLR §3126. Such penalties can result in having equitable distribution issues resolved in favor of the other party; the Court prohibiting you from being allowed to introduce certain relevant financial evidence necessary to support your case; or even dismissal. Although it can be tedious to complete the disclosure paperwork, it is still better than losing your share of the marital assets for failing to comply. If you have any questions regarding this matter or need assistance with a divorce in general, please call 516-858-2620 to speak to a Divorce Attorney today!
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