Illinois Foreclosures Legal Questions

As you did not state where the property lies, the suggestion is to contact that County's Bar Association. A local attorney familair with the Judge and the lender's attroney should be retained. If they are like the Will County Bar, a referral system is in place to allow you to speak with an attorney familiar with such cases. It may be that, by retaining an attorney early, another Modification Application can be sent  directly to the Lender [or Servicer] that will, hopefully, be sucessful and avoid any foreclosure being filed.      ... Read More

The standard answer is to go to the hearing.   Absence only leads to unknown and potentially bad results.  You should bring all relevant documentation about the transfer of ownership.  However, it does seem that your conduct was the source of the violation, so the transfer may be of no effect for the violations or the related ruling at the hearing. An inquiry may be in order to the Village attorney to send the documentation prior to court with a question then asked as to liability.  If you are told "not to worry" or that the case will be dismissed, a  written confirmation of this should be quickly sent with a copy kept by you.  If this is not the result, it merely confirms the need to appear. An answer to this question of liability should be answerable by a local attorney that handles ordiance violations and similar cases.  The local referral program at your county bar association is a good place to start.  The attorney can also be asked the fee for contacting the Village and forwarding the materials and/or appearing at the hearing.... Read More

If there was truly a "preditory loan," there may be a way to have the loan declared null and void.  However, there was not enough information given other than it was a  "bad loan."  This situation requires a review by a competent attorney of all documents and the circumstances surrounding the making of the loan. As to foreclosure, they may be bluffing.  As the lein (i.e. the Mortgage) survived the BK7, upon a default, it can proceed in state court via a Foreclosure.  This may or may not occur as there are practical, non-legal considerations.  You did not say if there was (or was not) a senior mortgage.  If so, this junior mortgage, which remained as a Bankruptcy only discharges the Note, would need to buy-out the 1st Mortgage to receive the proceeds from Sale of the residence.  For example, if the FMV of the property is $175,000 and the 1st Mortgage is $150,000 or higher, this does not makes any financial sense.  To spend over $150,000 to recoup a portion of $40,000 makes no sense.  However, if there is no 1st or if it is "only" about $50,000 and the FMV is the $175,000, the circumstances change.  The Foreclosure then makes financial sense to institute; and this lender may not be bluffing. However, there can be no deficiency as your BK7 protected you from this.  This presumes there was no Reaffirmation in the prior BK7 of this debt, which appears to be the case you stated here.  Again, the Note, which is your personal promise to pay, was discharged in the BK7. There is, therefore, no Note.  Instead, what you have been paying is the Mortgage, which remained as a valid lein on the property.  A larger cash offer may be the solution to this lien's removal, but you need to review all this with an attorney as to your options.  A good place to start is your Barr Association to see if it maintains a referral procedure.... Read More

You do need an attorney.  We are precluded from accepting cases in the manner you initiated.  As such, the answer is YES: you need to defend the suit and negotiate a favorable outcome and with an attorney, this is more likely to result. The suggestion is that, since foreclosure pracetice varies from county to county, a local attorney with foreclosure experience be consulted.  Your local bar association is a good place to inquire for a referral.  You can then "google" the name(s) given and review their sites as to experience, FAQs, and the like.  An appointment can then be set with the attorney of your choosing; and you may also be able to speak with that attorney prior to your meeting. Please be sure to note, in any conversation, that the matter has been filed and there is pending the Court date.  ... Read More

You have not addressed whether or not you are still in the house, but I will assume so. If true, you cannot be evicted except by the County Sheriff.  That can only occur after the Judicial Sale has been confirmed in Court AND another 30 days [per statute] passes. If (2 more assumptions) you are both on title to the house AND the Lender was the high bidder at the Sale, you can seek to Modify the Mortgage.  That should occur within 6 weeks of an Application being received by the Lender, so there may be time to do this.  If accepted, that will avoid any need to move. You can also appear at the hearing on confirmation.  We would suggest that be done with an attorney.  You may be able to object to the Sale, gain additional time, or have the Judge grant a continuance of the Motion.  An attorney can review the case and offer an opinion on the best way to proceed.  For the Application, this can be done by yourself, but it is best to either have the retained attorney or a HOPE [free] Counselor do this for you as time is of the essence. To find an attorney, the suggested means is to contact your local County Bar Association for a referral.  The name(s) given can then be researched on the Web before setting an appointment.... Read More

First, we need to distinguish between lien (Mortgage) and debt (Note).  The Mortgage was included in the foreclosure by virtue of its being attached to the property, which appears to have sold at Sheriff's Sale.  It attaches only to the property and it affords the right to foreclose upon non-payment.  It will survive a BK, but not a state foreclosure. It appears that, if not extinguished yet, it is in the process of being extinguished. As to you, the personal promise to pay is the Note.  This appears to be what is in collection and payment can be averted by a Chapter 7 filing.  That obligation is subject to any discharge entered.  Depending on the exact state of the Foreclosure, this may be affected by a Chapter 13 as well, but you may be forced to pay cents on the dollar. You should make an appointment with a Bankruptcy attorney to determine if you pass the Means Test so you are able to file a BK7.  Also, you can determine what, if anything, a filing will do to you and the costs as well as insuring it will do what you wish it to do.  Since you are also divorced [before his passing], a copy of that Judgment should be brought and reviewed to insure that it has no effect on the dischargeability of the Mortgage.  If there is a right to sue your ex-husband' estate, that can be discussed with the attorney as well.... Read More

Chapter 7 will never help you with a secured debt such as a car loan or mortgage, if you are behind on payments. The only thing in chapter 7 can do is wipe out the debt, but you will need to give back the collateral that secures the payment such as a car or the home. What you would need to do is file a chapter 13 bankruptcy. Chapter 13 bankruptcy stops all repossession or foreclosure proceedings and allows you to resume making your monthly payments, while establishing a repayment plan that will allow you to repay what you owe over a three to five-year period. I have responded to your inquiry according to the laws of Massachusetts, where my firm is located. Laws can vary significantly from state to state and cases tend to be rather fact-specific, so you are best served by consulting with a knowledgeable attorney in weighing your options. Email messages/Online Correspondence are akin to conversations and do not reflect the level of analysis applied to formal legal opinions. Email/Online responses do not form an attorney-client relationship.    Joseph F. Botelho, Esq. BOTELHO LAW GROUP Attorneys At Law http://fallriverbankruptcyattorney.com/ 901 Eastern Ave.  Unit 2 Fall River, MA 02723  Office:  888-269-0688 FAX:    877-475-8147 #bankruptcy  #lawyer  #FallRiver  #Chapter7  #chapter13  #debt  #debtsettlement  #foreclosure  #attorney   #cantpaybills  #lawsuit  #court  #bankruptcycourt  #eviction  #lostmyjob... Read More

The reason your dad couldn't get the home under his name is because there still a mortgage on it and you can't transfer property from one person's name to another until all liens have been removed from the property, this cannot be accomplished until the mortgage itself is paid off and any other liens are paid off. Also, the estate would need to be probated in court before ownership could transfer and since there iis no money in the estate, it's just better to walk away. With that being said since your father's name is not on the deed and he did not sign for the mortgage he has absolutely no financial responsibilities to the bank. Unless they can prove that the damages your speaking about in your question were caused by actions of your father, on purpose, to attempt to in some way for the bank directly, he has no financial obligation. Basically you wait for the foreclosure sale to happen and what ever eviction process was within the state you live in will occur. Some states they allow a sharp you to show up at your house and kick you and everything else out and other states like Massachusetts they give you a sufficient time after going through a lengthy legal process to even get in front of the judge so you tenants usually have 3 to 6 months once the eviction process has started. I have responded to your inquiry according to the laws of Massachusetts, where my firm is located. Laws can vary significantly from state to state and cases tend to be rather fact-specific, so you are best served by consulting with a knowledgeable attorney in weighing your options. Email messages/Online Correspondence are akin to conversations and do not reflect the level of analysis applied to formal legal opinions. Email/Online responses do not form an attorney-client relationship.    Joseph F. Botelho, Esq. BOTELHO LAW GROUP Attorneys At Law http://fallriverbankruptcyattorney.com/ 901 Eastern Ave.  Unit 2 Fall River, MA 02723  Office:  888-269-0688 FAX:    877-475-8147... Read More

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but your credit is already ruined once you get to this point and cannot pay for the mortgage. To answer your question, YES, they can come after you for the missed payments and the deficency from the foreclosure sale. What this means is when your home is sold at foreclosure sale, whatever the sale price doesn't cover, they can come after you for that amount. Basically your mortgage is worth say $200,000.00, and sold at foreclsoure auction for $100,000.00, then you will owe the bank $100,000.00 and have no home, just the debt.  If the bank can't collect the debt from you, which they most likely will not even try, in that case they write it off to the IRS to take it off their taxes and then the IRS sends you a 1099 for that amount. Basically the 1099 will go towards that years taxes as if you earned an extra $100,000.00 in that tax year, which will have you owe approximately $34,000.00 to the IRS which cannot be discharged right away in bankruptcy. The way you could prevent this is to file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy BEFORE the house is sold at a foreclosure sale and discharge the debt, so when they do sell the home, you will not owe the debt and therefore not responsible for the defecency or the 1099 taxes ramifications.   I have responded to your inquiry according to the laws of Massachusetts, where my firm is located. Laws can vary significantly from state to state and cases tend to be rather fact-specific, so you are best served by consulting with a knowledgeable attorney in weighing your options. Email messages/Online Correspondence are akin to conversations and do not reflect the level of analysis applied to formal legal opinions. Email/Online responses do not form an attorney-client relationship.    Joseph F. Botelho, Esq. BOTELHO LAW GROUP Attorneys At Law http://fallriverbankruptcyattorney.com/ 901 Eastern Ave.  Unit 2 Fall River, MA 02723  Office:  888-269-0688 FAX:    877-475-8147... Read More

The answers your question is no, you will not be liable for any remainder of the mortgage after you receive a chapter 7 bankruptcy discharge. But remember chapter 7 does not allow you to save a home that your behind payments on, thus if you receive a chapter 7 bankruptcy on your home you have eliminated the debt, but the bank still have a collateral interest in your home secured by the mortgage and bankruptcy cannot remove that. So if you have a first mortgage on your house and you file chapter 7 bankruptcy and receive a discharge, unless your mortgages in good standing and all payments are up to date, you will automatically lose the home. In bankruptcy if there's ever collateral securing the debt such as a home or a car, you can discharge the debt but you will always lose the property. Bankruptcy cannot have you discharged debt and still get to keep the property. There are few exceptions, such as stripping a second mortgage when the house is under water and the second mortgage interferes with the Debtors homestead exemption. But this is simply not the case on a first mortgage.   I have responded to your inquiry according to the laws of Massachusetts, where my firm is located. Laws can vary significantly from state to state and cases tend to be rather fact-specific, so you are best served by consulting with a knowledgeable attorney in weighing your options. Email messages/Online Correspondence are akin to conversations and do not reflect the level of analysis applied to formal legal opinions. Email/Online responses do not form an attorney-client relationship.    Joseph F. Botelho, Esq. BOTELHO LAW GROUP Attorneys At Law http://fallriverbankruptcyattorney.com/ 901 Eastern Ave.  Unit 2 Fall River, MA 02723  Office:  888-269-0688 FAX:    877-475-8147... Read More

If I understand you, in 2008, the lender cancelled or postponed the trustee's sale without notice to you. It appears that the lender set a new sale date again without notice to you. My understanding is that lenders are not required to give notice of new or postponed sale dates. You say that the company took back the house, which indicates that there were no bidders at the sale, so ownership reverted to the lender. At that point, the lender should have recorded a trustee's deed conveying title to the lender, which has the effect of removing you as titleholder to the property. If this was never done, then technically you are still the owner. The next question is whether your mortgage loan was included in your bankruptcy filing and whether it was discharged. If you used an attorney for your bankruptcy, you should make an appointment to discuss this with him. Otherwise, you should seek the opinion of a bankruptcy lawyer. You can arrange a 30-minute consultation with an attorney in any selected specialty through the Lawyer Referral Service operated by your county bar association. The cost is nominal and would be money well spent. There may be a court action you could file in which the court might order that the trustee's deed be retroactively recorded to the date of the sale, which could relieve you of the tax liability. You should consult with a real estate specialist attorney to get an opinion on this. Ideally, you might be able to find a local attorney who specializes in both real estate and bankruptcy.... Read More

Were your payment checks cashed? If so, the bank no doubt applied your payments to the loan balance. You should be able to get an accounting of payments from the bank. If the home loan was discharged in bankruptcy and never reaffirmed, then it may be possible to get the payments back. But that seems like a longshot. Talk to your bankruptcy attorney.... Read More

I understand your question as follows: the foreclosure case was filed in federal court and the bank filed for summary judgment. Then you filed for bankruptcy and the automatic stay was modified to allow the bank to proceed. Once the stay was lifted it was proper to proceed in foreclosure without re-filing for summary judgment. but if the stay was still in effect the federal judge could not properly rule on summary judgment.... Read More

When the automatic stay is lifted, the foreclosure case may or may not have to be restarted. What happens is that the case will be dismissed in State Court some of the time and simply put on hold some of the time. Depending on how long the automatic stay was in effect, even if the case was not dismissed, a new hearing will have to be held. If your case was filed before the hearing on the foreclosure case, a hearing will still have to be scheduled and held. You should be given notice of the hearing before it is held, but, sometimes that does not occur. If you have moved, be sure to give your current address to the attorney handling the foreclosure and to the Clerk of Court for the county you live in. You need to consult with an attorney about the foreclosure, how long it may take and what options you may have. Your bankruptcy attorney may or may not be able to advise you regarding foreclosures and you should ask that attorney first since he is familiar with your case.... Read More

If you do not respond to the complaint in some fashion there will eventually be a judgment of Foreclosure and Sale and you might expect the property to be auctioned by the Sheriff in about 7-8 months. There could be a monetary judgment taken against you as well if the auction price is less than the mortgage amount. After the Sheriff's auction the occupants (presumably you and your family) are likely to be evicted. The monetary judgment could also be taken against the co-signer. You usually have the right to reinstate the loan within 90 days, which means to bring the loan payments current. Another option is to respond in some fashion under the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure and the Illinois Mortgage Foreclosure Law. That option might vary the outcome and possibly extend your time in the premises. There are other factors too numerous to discuss in this fashion. This response does not establish an attorney client relationship with the undersigned and any person and is intended only as a general comment based upon very cursory facts.... Read More