Have you fallen behind on your mortgage? Have you missed more than one mortgage payment? Could it be you’ve missed 2 or 3 or even more mortgage payments? If any of these problems have happened to you, the bank that holds your mortgage may take legal action to come after your home. The legal action taken by the financial institution to take the home back is called a foreclosure lawsuit.

How It Starts

The first item you should receive from the attorneys from the financial institution is called a 90 day Notice. This Notice states that you’ve fallen behind on your mortgage and unless you become current within the next 90 days your financial institution will be bringing a foreclosure lawsuit against you. The foreclosure lawsuit is commenced by the attorneys for the financial institution by drafting and filing a summons and complaint with the County Clerk in the County in which your home is located. Thereafter a process server is hired to serve the Summons and Complaint upon you either at your residence or at your principal place of employment.

Responding to the Foreclosure Proceeding

If served with the Summons and Complaint you must file an Answer. Submitting an application for a mortgage modification is not a response to a foreclosure lawsuit. Should you submit a mortgage modification application and if you do not serve and file an Answer to the Complaint with the Court and opposing counsel, you will default in the foreclosure case. A default is an acknowledgement the allegations in the financial institution’s foreclosure complaint against you are true. This allows the foreclosure lawsuit to move through the courts unopposed and faster.

Foreclosure Settlement Conferences

After a foreclosure lawsuit is initiated by the attorneys for the financial institution, the lawyers for the financial institution will file a request for court intervention. This will cause the court to schedule a foreclosure settlement conference. The purpose of foreclosure settlement conferences is to work out arrangements between the homeowner and the attorneys for the financial institution to allow the homeowners to stay in their homes. This is usually accomplished by the homeowner submitting a mortgage modification to counsel for the financial institution and having it monitored by the court. The progress of the mortgage modification will be supervised by a referee at the foreclosure settlement conference part at the court. It may take several conferences to finalize a mortgage modification. However, it must be pointed out, there is no guaranty you will receive a mortgage modification. Financial institutions provide homeowners with mortgage modifications when they meet the criteria developed by the financial institution with regard to approval of mortgage modifications. The purpose of the foreclosure settlement conferences is for the referee to make sure the financial institutions and their attorneys are negotiating in good faith.

Elliot S. Schlissel, Esq. is the managing attorney of Schlissel DeCorpo LLP. The law firm has more than 45 years of experience representing hundreds of homeowners throughout the Metropolitan New York area with regard to litigating foreclosure lawsuits and helping them obtain mortgage modifications. The firm can be reached at 800-344-6431 or by e-mail at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

At the end of a foreclosure sale a referee will advertise your home to be sold on the court house steps. The notice of the sale is published in local newspapers where the homeowners reside a minimum of four weeks prior to sale date. When this happens the homeowner usually receives notice of the scheduled sale date. Please note however if the homeowner has not hired an attorney or participated in the foreclosure litigation the financial institution and their attorneys are not legally obligated to give the homeowner notice of the foreclosure sale.

Stopping the Foreclosure Sale!

There are 2 main avenues a homeowner can pursue to stop a foreclosure sale. The first avenue is by filing an emergency order to show cause in the New York State court where the foreclosure is pending. The second avenue is by filing a bankruptcy in the United States Bankruptcy Court (a Federal Court) and obtaining an automatic stay from a bankruptcy judge to stop the foreclosure sale pursuant to the State Court order.

Bankruptcy Options

The filing of a bankruptcy guarantees that the foreclosure sale will be immediately stopped. Bringing an order to show cause in the New York State Court where the foreclosure is pending will require the judge assigned to the case to use their discretion as to whether to stop the sale.

Types of Bankruptcies

There are 3 types of bankruptcy that can stop a foreclosure sale. These are a Chapter 7, Chapter 13 and Chapter 11 bankruptcies. Chapter 13 and Chapter 11 bankruptcies are reorganizations involving terms designed to allow the homeowner to catch up on the mortgage arrears. A Chapter 7 bankruptcy is a straight bankruptcy that simply eliminates or “discharges” the debt.

Should you be facing a foreclosure sale it is strongly recommended you immediately contact a foreclosure lawyer and review the aforementioned options with him or her.

Elliot S. Schlissel is a partner in Schlissel DeCorpo LLP, a law firm that has been fighting foreclosures for more than 3 decades. He can be reached for a free consultation at Elliot@sdnylaw.com or at 800-344-6431. The law firm maintains offices in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens Counties.

Individuals in foreclosure may be solicited with regard to forensic loan audits and mortgage securitization analysis. It is claimed these audits and analysis will uncover improper and/or illegal loan documents. It is claimed this will force a loan servicer to give a homeowner a loan modification. These claims are usually false. If you have a problem with your mortgage and are facing foreclosure you should retain an experienced foreclosure defense lawyer. Generally speaking the securitization analysis or forensic loan audits usually cause homeowners to spend a lot of money and these procedures don’t accomplish either setting aside the mortgage or obtaining a mortgage modification for the homeowner.

Scams Concerning Deeds

There are a variety of scams regarding deeds. Usually a distressed homeowner is conned into signing the deed over to his or her property. Sometimes the scam offers to pay the homeowners money claiming if the deed is turned over to them they will straighten out the problem and thereafter re-deed the property back to the homeowner. Sometimes this happens by the scammer requesting the homeowners provide them with a power of attorney. If you are solicited with a proposal for someone to take title to your home, it is important you retain an experienced foreclosure lawyer to look into the propriety of this type of transaction.

Other Types of Foreclosure Scams

There are a variety of other types of scams which involve mortgage loan modification companies requesting homeowners to obtain loan modifications, phony solicitations to be part of Class actions for homeowners and scams involving suggestions a company can eliminate your mortgage. When a family finds their home is in foreclosure they often don’t know what to do or where to turn. However, if you are solicited with an easy way out be very careful. Generally speaking there is no easy way out of foreclosure. The best way to deal with foreclosure problems is to contact an experienced foreclosure defense lawyer and have him or her go through the various options available to you.

Elliot S. Schlissel is a partner in Schlissel DeCorpo LLP, a foreclosure defense law firm. They offer free consultations. He can be reached at Elliot@sdnylaw.com or 800-344-6431.