Real estate law is the name given to the branch of civil law that covers rights to possess, use, and enjoy land and the permanent manmade additions attached to it. This includes the capacity to hold interests in real property, permissible interests in real property, relations between owners, relations between owners and the community, landlord and tenant relations, the transfer of interests in real property, and real property financing, including deeds and mortgages. Real estate transactions, such as purchases, sales, and leases, are governed by a wide body of federal and state law.
Professional law assist is a firm exclusively dedicated to assisting homeowners in their struggle against lenders. We have a variety of solutions not only for homeowners in distress but also for those who are upside down in "bad" loans due to lender liability. Homeowners can retain our firm in one of our Mass Tort cases, an individual lawsuit against a lender.
Pre Foreclosure (Pre Litigation)
Once a homeowner mortgage payments have not been made for at least 90 days, the lender records a public notice that the owner has defaulted on their mortgage, and then mails the notice to the homeowner. In some states this notice is called a Notice of Default (NOD); in others, it is a Lis Pendens. Depending on the law in your state, the lender might be required to post the notice on your front door. This pre-foreclosure stage is really a grace period; it gives a homeowner three calendar months to your default. What the cure? You can either work out an arrangement with the lender, sell the place or come up with the cash you owe or we bring lawsuits against mortgage lenders to help homeowners like you avoid foreclosure.
Before you file a lawsuit against your mortgage lender, it is important to know whether you have a claim under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) or the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), or whether there may be other causes of action such as breach of contract or negligence.
Prior to filing a lawsuit for you, we will prepare to use evidence in litigation based on wrongful denial of financial assistance. Our mortgage litigation department will argue that your lender has committed numerous violations of California/Washington/Oregon statutes that protect homeowners from wrongful foreclosure. Our goal is to prove that your lender engaged in illegal lending practices.
Post Foreclosure (Wrongful foreclosure lawsuit)
Have you been the victim of a wrongful foreclosure? In 2010, several large lenders including GMAC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, PNC Financial Services Group, Wells Fargo and MERS admitted to irregularities in the way foreclosure documents were processed. In their rush to process foreclosures, many mortgage servicer employees were not even reading or verifying the court documents that they used to justify home seizures!
We believe that it is highly likely that a high percentage of home seizures conducted by these lenders in recent years may have been illegal. If your home was foreclosed recently, especially if your mortgage was being serviced by GMAC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, PNC, Wells Fargo or MERS you may be able to challenge the seizure.
No one should lose their home because a bank fails to take the time to properly process a foreclosure. It is impossible to know how many families might be victims of wrongful foreclosures. If your home was foreclosed, or you are in the process of foreclosure, it is important that you seek legal advice immediately to see if you have legal grounds to challenge the proceeding. We urge you to contact us today to make sure your legal rights are protected.
Irregularities in Foreclosure Processing
Mortgage servicing is a high-volume industry, and many of the people hired by lenders to process foreclosures have relatively little training, weak supervision and are under pressure to cut costs and boost profits. Couple this with the record high numbers of home loan defaults that have occurred in the last several years, and you have a recipe for disaster.
In the fall of 2010, GMAC Mortgage, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and PNC suspended various aspects of the foreclosure process after discovering irregularities in the preparation of court documents. In October 2010, Wells Fargo and MERS admitted to finding mistakes in thousands of foreclosure documents, but did not move to suspend home seizures.
The banks actions came after it was learned that some mortgage servicers employed people who could sign foreclosure affidavits so quickly they popularized a new term for them: robo-signer. In depositions taken by lawyers for embattled homeowners, some robo-signers said they or their team had signed 10,000 or more foreclosure affidavits a month. Those affidavits say the preparer personally reviewed the files, but in their depositions, the workers acknowledge they had no time to actually do that. In some cases, the affidavits weren't properly notarized.The disclosures prompted attorneys general in all 50 states to launch an investigation of the banks practices. The FBI was also reportedly taking a look at the foreclosure mess.
Postponement or removing a trustee auction sale
Professional law assist firm file lawsuits every day for people who have been struggling to save their home and catch up on missed mortgage payments. We know the best solutions to stop foreclosure and save your home , If you have been trying to get approved for a loan modification, or if you are struggling with your mortgage payments, the best way to save your home is to contact us today. Our legal team is dedicated to helping homeowners save their homes. We will discuss your options and help you to stop foreclosure today.
Temporary restraining order or Preliminary injunction
In the lawsuit, we ask the court to enjoin (stop) the foreclosure proceedings until a judge can hear your reasons as to why the foreclosure shouldn't proceed.We typically ask the court for three things, in this order: a temporary restraining order , a preliminary injunction, and a permanent injunction.
Your application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) must convince the judge that you will suffer irreparable injury ,if the judge doesnstop the foreclosure immediately. Because you will lose your home if the foreclosure is allowed to proceed, most courts accept that a foreclosure causes irreparable injury. TROs are typically granted without a formal notice or hearing, which means the foreclosing party may have only a day or two of notice in which to prepare a response. If no response is filed, the judge may well grant the TRO.
Using Bankruptcy to Stop Foreclosure
When you file either a Chapter 13 or Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the court automatically issues an order (called the order for relief) that includes a wonderful thing known as the "automatic stay." The automatic stay directs your creditors to cease their collection activities immediately, no excuses. If your home is scheduled for a foreclosure sale, the sale will be legally postponed while the bankruptcy is pending--typically for three to four months.
Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure
A Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure is an option for walking away from your home and avoiding foreclosure. In California, our legal team have negotiated with the big banks we have filed cases against to help people deed their homes back to their lender. A deed in lieu can be a better option than a short sale because it is generally not as time consuming, but many lenders prefer the short sale option.
Bankruptcy Law
All Bankruptcy Cases are governed by the provisions of 11 U.S.C.§101 et seq, referred to herein after as the Bankruptcy Code or simply, All statutory citations in this paper refer to specific sections of the Code unless otherwise stated. This paper deals with the Code as it has been amended to date, including the most recent amendments of the Bankruptcy Abuse and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. The Reform Act was signed by the President on April 20, 2005; however, the majority of its provisions did not become effective until October 17, 2005. This paper will assume that the Bankruptcy Case was filed after October 17, 2005 and that such case is subject to all provisions of the Reform Act.
The Code creates 6 different types of bankruptcy cases which may be filed. Specifically, Chapters 7, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 15 all create different types of relief available to various different types of debtors. Chapter 7 is what is known as liquidation bankruptcy.
Chapters 9, 11, 12 and 13 are all referred to as reorganizations because they all contemplate a continuation of the debtor in some form subject to debts which have been modified by a device known as a plan. A plan is really nothing more than a court enforced loan modification agreement wherein the debtor rewrites the terms of all their debt on a global basis.
Chapter 9 is a municipal reorganization which is a very specialized type of bankruptcy case,Chapter 11 is designed for public corporations, but almost any type of entity or individual may file such a case.
Chapter 12 is a very powerful, but also a very limited reorganization which may only be utilized by family farmers. Chapter 13 is a sort of individual reorganization which may only be used by natural persons.
Finally, Chapter 15 is limited to what are referred to as Å“Cross-border insolvency cases, wherein the primary insolvency proceeding is filed in a foreign country and such company has assets located within the United States.