An article in today’s Sarasota Herald Tribune discusses how the Florida Attorney General’s office is investigating whether Florida Default Law Group in Tampa, one of the largest Florida foreclosure firms, is using fake or misleading documents in their foreclosure cases. This claim is something that foreclosure defense attorneys have been complaining about for a while now.
An example of the behavior that this article is referring to is where an assignment of mortgage, the document transferring ownership of the mortgage to the foreclosure plaintiff, is signed, by an improper party, the week before the mortgage foreclosure is filed. This is problematic because most of the foreclosure plaintiffs are special purpose vehicles designed to hold mortgages. The terms of these vehicles require that any mortgage that they own must be transferred to them, by way of assignment of mortgage, within a certain number of days from the creation of the vehicle. What is happening is, is that the assignment of mortgage is being prepared and executed by an improper party sometimes years after the mortgage should have been transferred to the vehicle. The fact that these assignments are being created the week before the foreclosure case is filed, violates the terms of the vehicles and is misleading to the Court and legally insufficient. Most importantly, the reason why these documents are being created, is because defense attorneys are raising the issue that the foreclosure case should not proceed because the party bringing the lawsuit is not the proper party of record. To get around this successful defense claim, plaintiff’s are having to create these misleading documents.
This reason why I think an article like this is so important is because it helps to shed the light on the fact foreclosure defense attorneys are able to help homeowners facing foreclosure. This is an opportunity to seize upon to help get the word out that all hope is not lost. The message is clear: don’t just walk away from your home, a competent foreclosure defense attorney can help.
If you are interested in learning more about this topic, you can either post a comment to this blog, contact me, Larry Tolchinsky, a Florida foreclosure attorney, by email, or call me at (954) 458-8655 and I will be happy to answer your questions. I offer a free initial consultation.
