He Who Hesitates Is Lost

Posted by kevin on March 5, 2013 under Foreclosure Blog | Comments are off for this article

If you receive a notice of intent to foreclose, and do not run to a lawyer, you are a fool. If you get served with a foreclosure complaint but do nothing because you are working with the servicer to get a modification, you are a fool. If you get papers from your adversary saying that they are submitting their final judgment package to the Foreclosure Unit and do nothing, you are a fool. And if you wait until you get notice of a sheriff’s sale before you run to a lawyer (and expect him to pull a rabbit out of his hat for limited fees), you are a fool who will soon be without a house.

The message has been that the majority of chancery judges do not like contested foreclosure cases. The average case does not get to trial for two years. The Administrative Office of the Courts wants foreclosure cases to go to trial within 12 months of the date of the filing of the complaint. If the defendant is not served right away, that could mean that you are going to trial in 6-8 months. Now, some judges are routinely limiting discovery and setting trial dates that are 8 months from trial.

So, do yourself a favor. If you are behind on your mortgage, contact your servicer to see if you can work something out. If not, and you receive a notice of intent to foreclose, at least interview a few attorneys with background in foreclosure defense. Better yet, hire one of those attorneys. If you get served with a complaint, hire counsel immediately and file your answer in a timely manner.

Nowadays, foreclosure cases can be filed electronically through JEFIS. So, that means that the papers can get into the system that much faster. Servicers are regulating the number of foreclosure cases that are filed at any given time so as to not overstress their staffs and, more importantly, not to overstress the Clerk’s office in Trenton. In other words, the process is being speeded up.

If you do not file your answer on time, and the plaintiff enters a default, then you must file a motion to set aside the default in order to file an answer. That means that you have to go before a judge who may not like contested cases. In the old days the policy was that people should have their day in court. Today, I am not so sure if that policy wins the day.

So, remember the old adage, “He who hesitates is lost.”

In future blogs, I will give you examples of recent cases where borrowers took it on the chin for sitting on their hands.