ATTORNEY NEWSLETTER
Help For Heirs Left With a Decedent’s Mortgage
Financial elder abuse takes many forms and comes from many different directions. It may be a mortgage forced on a vulnerable or unaware senior as part of an abusive scheme by a financial advisor, lender, or other party such as a caregiver or fiduciary betraying the trust of the senior. The heirs or other successors in interest (family members or other close parties) may know nothing about the fraudulent mortgage until after the senior dies, and foreclosure may be imminent. In the past, lenders have been reluctant to share loan information with these successors. That is about to change. A new rule announced by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is intended to help heirs gather all the information they need to possibly protect the decedent’s home from foreclosure.
The Santa Clara County and California financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. represent senior victims and their heirs when a mortgage or other indebtedness has been forced on a senior through undue influence or manipulation. The new CFPB rule will be a help in such cases. Whatever the fraud and whoever the perpetrator, our financial elder abuse lawyers pursue all remedies available to victimized seniors under the California Elder Abuse and Dependent Adult Civil Protection Act and other statutes designed to protect California seniors from financial elder abuse. If you or someone you know is the victim of financial elder abuse in Santa Clara County or elsewhere in California, call Evans Law Firm today at 415-441-8669.
What The Changes Mean
Here are the highlights of the CFPB’s new rule:
- Provide Confirmed Successors in Interest Foreclosure Protections. The new rule generally requires mortgage servicers, upon confirmation of the successor in interest’s identity and ownership interest in the property, to extend the same foreclosure protections to the confirmed successor in interest that are afforded to the original borrower under the Bureau’s mortgage servicing rules.
- Require Confirmation of Successors in Interest’s Status. Servicers will be required to maintain policies and procedures reasonably designed to ensure that they can promptly (a) identify and facilitate communication with a potential or confirmed successor in interest, (b) provide the potential successor in interest with a description of the documents the successor in interest must provide to establish their identity and ownership interest in the property, and (c) notify the person of his or her status as a successor in interest upon receiving required documents.
- Broaden the Definition of Successor in Interest. The new definition includes not only relatives who receive an ownership interest in the property upon the death of the borrower, but also persons who receive an ownership interest in the property through divorce or through certain other transfers.
Remedies for Victimized Seniors
California leads the nation in protections for seniors against financial elder abuse. The State’s laws afford broad civil remedies to seniors– compensatory damages, the award of mandatory attorneys’ fees and all other remedies otherwise provided by law. These other remedies may include punitive damages and treble damages where the broker is guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice. Seniors are often reluctant to come forward either because they are embarrassed by what has happened to them or because they do not understand their rights under California law. If you are a senior or the loved one of a senior who has been the victim of financial elder abuse, don’t hesitate to come forward. The financial elder abuse attorneys at Evans Law Firm, Inc. can represent you from investigation and filing a complaint and through discovery and trial, and toward a resolution.
Contact Us
If you or a loved one been the victim of financial elder abuse as a result of a mortgage or other fraud whether in Santa Clara County or anywhere else in California, contact California financial elder abuse attorney Ingrid Evans and the other Evans Law Firm financial elder abuse attorneys at (415) 441-8669, or by email at <a href=”mailto:info@evanslaw.com”>info@evanslaw.com</a>. Our attorneys have experience with all types of financial elder abuse, investment and securities fraud and annuity fraud. We can help guide your case through a bench or jury trial, or toward an equitable settlement. 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.
