MARYLAND MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE DEFENSE ATTORNEYS: "PRODUCE THE NOTE DEFENSE" SADLY DIMINISHING

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This supplement to " CHAPTER FOUR : Fifteen (15) Tips for Avoiding Foreclosure," provides an update to my discussion on the "Produce the Note!" Defense (pages 38 - 40) in my best-selling 2011 book, titled :   LEGAL CONSUMER TIPS AND SECRETS : Avoiding Debtors' Prison in the United States, 209 pages, by  Charles Jerome Ware, former Special Counsel to the Chairman of the United States Federal Trade Commission.


                                          UPDATE SUPPLEMENT


 Sadly, the "produce the note" defense to mortgage foreclosures is diminishing rapidly in effectiveness. When I wrote about this defense to mortgage foreclosure in my book in 2011, I and other attorneys were having good success on behalf of our mortgage-battered clients. Times are changing.


In the "produce the note" defense, homeowners demand that the foreclosing bank or other mortgagor demonstrate to the homeowner (and/or to the court) that the mortgagor has the legal right to foreclose on the property by producing the "original" note ( or prove in some other incontrovertible way that that it is the true owner of the promissory note on the property). This defense strategy worked for some of us attorneys for our homeowner clients because producing the note on the property can be difficult. In many cases, the debt is sold among different banks and investors --- frequently over and over again. Every so often, the new owner/mortgagor of the loan does not get the proper paperwork to show they own the note and the mortgage. Even in situations where the original note is available, the indorsements might not be in proper order.


Now, however, banks and investors are more careful about addressing any gaps in the paperwork before initiating a foreclosure. Additionally, courts all over the United States are more familiar with this defense strategy, have heard many foreclosure cases on this legal issue of "standing (right) to foreclose", and have decided against homeowners in many situations. Consequently, it is now more difficult --- though not impossible --- to win a case based on a  "produce the note" defense argument.