ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Reverse Mortgages And Financial Elder Abuse
Dilemmas For Surviving Spouses
Dangers Of Losing Your Home
Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez looked at the perils of reverse mortgages for California seniors in his column in Sunday’s paper, and reached out to our own Ingrid M. Evans for her take on reverse mortgages. You can read Ingrid’s comments and the entire column here: Column: He promised his wife he’d keep the house. Then he took out a reverse mortgage (yahoo.com). The bottom line for Ingrid is that reverse mortgage transactions can be disastrous for some seniors. Victims have recourse against the lender in cases where, for example, the originator tries to sell (or refers to someone else trying to sell) the senior on using the reverse mortgage proceeds to purchase an annuity or other insurance product. This cross-selling is against California law (see Cal. Civ. Code § 1923.2(i)(1). Ingrid and the other financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, can represent you if a lender or originator has tried to sell you an annuity or other insurance product to be purchased with reverse mortgage proceeds. Call us today at (415)441-8669 if this has happened to you.
Ingrid In The LA Times Column
In the December 20 column, Times reporter Steve Lopez considered the case of an older widower in San Bernardino who was evicted from his home of nearly 50 years after a dispute with his reverse mortgage lender.[1] The home is now abandoned. The older man grieves at breaking his promise to his late wife that he would keep their home in the family forever. How he came to lose the home to the lender is not, however, an uncommon pattern. “It happens all the time,” Ingrid told the reporter, noting that some “lenders are ridiculously aggressive … and always looking for loopholes, and they will foreclose in a minute.” As they did in the reported case. Ingrid understands especially the plight of destitute homeowners who often have trouble finding affordable legal help, and even if they do, they’re up against teams of corporate hired legal guns who work for some of the nation’s biggest financial institutions. In the reported case, the elderly man who lost his home to a mortgage lender is still fighting to get his home back after being evicted six years ago.
Ingrid and the other elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm represent seniors in Los Angeles and throughout California for any form of financial elder abuse, including when a reverse mortgage lender or originator sells a senior on a reverse mortgage to fund an annuity or other insurance product. This kind of transaction violates California law, Cal. Civ. Code § 1923.2(i)(1), and constitutes financial elder abuse under Cal. Welf. & Inst. Code § 15600 et seq. We will pursue all persons and businesses responsible for the abuse and seek all available remedies for an aggrieved senior including recovery of attorneys’ fees and expenses for the cost of bringing your suit.
Contact Us
Reverse mortgage are dangerous and expensive products and you need to learn all about them before you move forward in considering one. Don’t trust the lender to give you the facts and do not allow the lender to attempt to “tie in” other products to your loan. If you are harmed by a lender selling you an insurance product based on the proceeds of your loan, Ingrid and the other Los Angeles financial elder abuse attorneys can be reached at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our attorneys have experience with complex financial contracts and large insurance companies. We handle cases involving physical and financial elder abuse, qui tam and whistleblower law, nursing home abuse, whole life insurance and universal life insurance, and indexed, variable, and fixed annuities.
[1] Neither Ingrid nor the Evans Law Firm are involved in the case in any way.
