Dealing With Residential Foreclosures - NYC
Monday, December 15, 2008
- Location -
Queens County Bar Association
90-35 148th Street
Jamaica, NY
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST. THIS PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT AND NO LONGER
ACCEPTING REGISTRATION.
This program is intended only for those who agree to a pro bono
volunteer service commitment to represent one homeowner/defendant at the
new Foreclosure Conference Parts in Queens County, Kings County or other
counties. The program is free for such individuals. Such
volunteers should be attorneys admitted in good standing in New York
State. Membership in one of the sponsoring bar associations is not
required. There is no minimum experience required to take the
training and volunteer for this program. In order to
register for this program, you must agree to those terms and commit to
volunteering to handle such a case.
To view all of the program details, go to www.nysba.org/DealingWithResidentialForeclosureDetails
Cosponsored by:
the New York State Bar Association
the Queens County Bar Association
the Queens Volunteer Lawyers Project
the Brooklyn Bar Association
the Brooklyn Volunteer Lawyers Project
the Empire Justice Center
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This training is a
part of the NYS Subprime Foreclosure Prevention Services program,
developed to help New York homeowners facing default or foreclosure by
providing counseling and legal services. The program is administered by
the NYS Division of Housing and Community Renewal/Housing Trust Fund
Corporation. The Program provides training and support for housing
counselors, mediators and lawyers who are assisting residents with
subprime or unconventional mortgages. Information on the program can be
found at www.nysdhcr.gov. |
Who
Should Attend?
• Attorneys willing to
commit to provide pro bono legal
representation to a low income homeowner
in a residential mortgage foreclosure settlement conference.
• Attorneys who represent low income
homeowners in residential mortgage foreclosure proceedings.
Why You Should
Volunteer?
A new law effective September 1, 2008 entitles all
New York homeowners with subprime loans in foreclosure to a mandatory
court settlement conference. The purpose of the settlement
conferences is to get the lender and the homeowners in a room together
with a mediator to come up with a workable resolution of the loan to
avoid foreclosure. Volunteer lawyers are desperately needed to
lend a helping hand to civil legal services programs inundated by scores
of families seeking legal advice because they are in jeopardy of losing
their homes as a result of the current residential mortgage foreclosure
crisis. Studies show that mortgage foreclosure filings have reached
record levels in the New York State courts.
The adverse impact of residential foreclosures extends
well beyond the families who are forced from their homes. The impact is
felt in the neighborhoods where housing values are plummeting on account
of the dramatic increase in the numbers of homes being left
vacant. Likewise the overall health of the economy suffers when
businesses are forced to close because of the sharp decline in consumers
able to afford their products. In turn the banking community suffers as
it is forced to tighten the credit criteria for qualifying
borrowers. In short, each and every one of us is affected in some
way by this crisis.
What
you will learn...
• The foreclosure
process
• Predatory lending practices
• The role of the settlement conference
• What options are available to hold off foreclosure
• How recent legislative initiatives will give you additional help
in resolving defaults
• How to negotiate various types of resolutions short of
foreclosure
Program Description
In light of the subprime lending crisis and the
increases in mortgage foreclosures, government has opted to change the
rules under which borrowers and lenders operate. The sponsors of
this program are responding with this carefully crafted training session
intended to prepare lawyers to step in and represent homeowners for
purposes of the mandatory settlement conference only. The course
will not only address the foreclosure process, but also the foreclosure
defenses and remedies and the new, mandatory settlement conferences from
the borrowers' standpoint. Recent developments addressed by the
New York Legislature have given the practitioner new procedures to
follow in representing the borrower in the foreclosure process as well
as arming the borrower with more rights to protect the property.
These conferences and the availability of housing counselors to
assist attorneys in representing homeowners for the limited purpose of
the conference will be covered in detail during this
program.
An expert faculty will give those in attendance an
overview of recent legislation and will discuss how the recent
developments may affect the borrowers' ability to negotiate short sales,
deeds in lieu of foreclosure, forbearance agreements, and other
settlement tactics, where applicable. Attend this program and get the
latest information and practice tips you need to protect your
clients.
Agenda
8:00-8:30
a.m.
Registration
8:30 –
9:15
Introduction to the Market Players, Snapshot of National and NY
Foreclosure and Related Data, Factors Contributing to the Subprime and
Foreclosure Crisis, and What these loans look like
9:15 –
9:45
NY Foreclosure Process
• Timeline
• New Requirements in NY – notice,
settlement conference and new pleading requirements
9:45 –
10:30
Federal Claims and Defenses to foreclosure
10:30 – 10:45
Refreshment Break
10:45 –
11:30
State law claims and defenses to foreclosure
11:30 –
11:45
Loan Workouts: When, how and by whom?
• The role of housing counselors
• When counseling is appropriate and what services they provide
that can be helpful to your case
11:45 – 12:30
Loan Workout Options
• Loss mitigation options including loan modifications, short
sales, deeds in lieu
• Documentation needed from borrower
• Multiple borrowers
• Working with servicers, and getting to investors
• Examples
12:30 –
1:30
Lunch on your own
1:30 –
2:00
Loss mitigation options from the Lenders’
perspective
2:00 –
2:30
The Settlement Conference
• Preparing the borrower, what documents and information to
bring
• Preparing the lender, what documents and information the lender
should bring
• Strategies: developing potential solutions
ahead of the conference
2:30 –
3:30
The Settlement Conference: How they are working in Queens and
Brooklyn
• Report from the courts
• Logistically, how it is working, resources, other issues that
have come up.
Panel: Court personnel, April Newbauer
3:30-3:45
Refreshment break
3:45 –
4:15
Important Issues Related to Loan Workouts
• Tax consequences
• Credit Repair
• Confidentiality
• Thinking ahead about
enforcement
4:15 –
4:45
Question and answer session
4:45 p.m.
Adjournment
Faculty
April Anne Newbauer, Esq.
(Moderator)
Attorney-in-Charge
Queens Civil Practice
The Legal Aid Society
Kew Gardens, NY
Hon. Augustus C.
Agate
Supreme Court Justice
Queens
County Supreme Court
Jamaica, NY
Tracy A. Catapono-Fox,
Esq.
Court
Attorney
Queens County Supreme
Court
Jamaica, NY
Meghan Faux, Esq.
Foreclosure Prevention Project
South Brooklyn Legal Services
Brooklyn, NY
Oda C. Friedheim, Esq.
The Legal Aid Society Queens
Neighborhood Office
Kew Gardens, NY
Professor Ann L. Goldweber
Director
St. John’s University School of Law
Elder Law Clinic
Queens, NY
John G. Hall, Esq.
The Law Firm of Hall & Hall, LLP
Staten Island, NY
Kirsten Keefe, Esq.
Senior Staff Attorney
Empire Justice Center
Albany, NY
The minimum pro bono volunteer service commitment is to represent one
homeowner/defendant at the new Foreclosure Conference Parts in Queens
County, Kings County or other counties. This program is Free to
those who agree to fulfill this commitment. Such volunteers
should be attorneys admitted in good standing in New York State.
Membership in one of the sponsoring bar associations is not required.
Nor is there any minimum experience required to take the training and
volunteer for this program.
**Please note: Registrations will not be accepted after
3:00 p.m.
The last day to pre-register online was December 12, 2008.
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