Foreclosure Attorney in Smithtown & Long Island: Protect Your Home & Legal Rights

Introduction Imagine waking up to a foreclosure notice on your doorstep. The stress, the uncertainty, and the fear of losing your home can be overwhelming. If you're facing foreclosure in Smithtown or Long Island, you're not alone—and you don’t have to go through it without help. A foreclosureattorney can be your best ally in fighting back, negotiating with lenders, and exploring legal options to save your home. In this guide, we'll dive deep into how a foreclosure attorney in Smithtown and Long Island can assist you, what your rights are,...

Different Types of Foreclosure Actions

“Most foreclosures in New York State are against residential real property, which is the principal residence of the homeowner. These properties and foreclosures against them are the subject of most of the laws in the foreclosure litigation area, since there are more protections for this type of property ownership. Protections include strict 90day pre-foreclosure notices, strict service of process requirements, and the requirement of mandatory foreclosure settlement conferences. However, are some different types of foreclosure actions under New York State law, which have some unique laws. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZE90rP1wPkhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yzgHiHWkYkDifferent Types of Foreclosure...

What Is Foreclosure?

A “foreclosure” is the legal method by which a creditor, with a secured interest in real property owned by a debtor, and with whom the debtor is in default on their mortgage obligations, is able to proceed in court, to cause the secured property, to be involuntarily sold to pay the debt owed to the creditor. What is a ”foreclosure”? The term "foreclosure" is a broad one and can apply to a foreclosure proceeding, foreclosure litigation, and/or foreclosure sale. The word has several applications: a) the litigation commenced is called...

who can file for bankruptcy protection

Suffolk County and Nassau County Foreclosure Defense, Legitimacy of Note Indorsement as an Issue

Often a Suffolk County or Nassau County forecloure defense attorney is obligated to defend an action where the mortgage ownership has been allegedly  transferred. Often there has been more than one transfer and the lender asserts that the transfers are valid based on alledged assignments of the mortgage. There are several issues with the legitimacy of the transfer of a mortgage loan, as follows : 1) whether the assignment of the mortgage is valid, 2) whether the indorsement on the note is valid, and 3) whether the lender is in...

Long Island Foreclosure Lawyer Can Move For Leave to Amend Answer to Protect New Clients

The law that applies to a motion to amend an answer by a defendant is NY CPLR 3025(b) which deals with amending pleadings with leave of the Court and states as follows :"Amendments and supplemental pleadings by leave. A party may amend his or her pleading, or supplement it by setting forth additional or subsequent transactions or occurrences, at any time by leave of court or by stipulation of all parties. Leave shall be freely given upon such terms as may be just including the granting of costs and continuances....

Long Island Foreclosure Attorney Can Vacate Their Client's Excusable Default Under CPLR 5015

 Long Island foreclosure attorneys are often giving consultations to clients who were served a long time ago with the summons and complaint in the foreclosure and are seeking a way to extend their time to answer and/or to vacate an order of reference or a judgement of foreclosure and sale in favore of the plaintiff. Assuming there is a potential service of process issue or other issue that would excuse the defendant's default, CPLR 5015 can help a Long Island foreclosure lawyer vacate the default judgment favoring the planitiff. Under...

When Are Juridictional Defenses Waived in Foreclosure Long Island Cases?

1. When a defendant completely fails to answer the Summons & Complaint and instead disputes service of process, they do not waive our rights to assert jurisdictional defenses including lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Cases hold that waiver of such rights only occurs when an answer was filed which does not contain certain defenses. In the matter of Deutsche Bank Nat. Trust Co. v. McRae (27 Misc.3d 247, 894 N.Y.S.2d 720, 2010 N.Y. Slip Op. 20020), the Plaintiff brought a motion for an order of reference where the defendant had...

Silverberg's Effects of Suffolk County and Nassau County Foreclosures

Recently, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Appellate Division ruled in the case of Bank of N.Y. v Silverberg 86 A.D. 3d 274, 926 N.Y.S. 2d 532(App. Div. 2d Dept. June 7, 2011) that in a transaction involving MERS where there was an assignment of only the mortgage, but not a specific assignment of the note, that the assignment is defective and the foreclosure action would be dismissed based on the lack of standing of the Plaintiff. Per Silverberg, transactions involving MERS would not give the assignee of...

Navigating the Post-Silverberg MERS Issues in Suffolk and Nassau County Foreclosures

Post-Silverberg, MERS in New York MERS Background New York Standing Requirements to Foreclosure Include Defenses in the Answer Silverberg and What it Means for Homeowners Conclusion MERS Background MERS intended to streamline and reduce the delays of recording, transferring, and assignment of ownership interests.  The MERS system also facilitated the pooling of many loans into packages that could be sold to investors as securities.  Additionally, MERS participants can avoid the local recording fees of all their mortgages because MERS keeps record of the mortgage in its national database.  Unfortunately, the...

Modifications & Negotiations as Foreclosure Solutions

Modification Lawyers Settling Foreclosures - Nassau & Suffolk Counties, Long Island Mortgage modifications, negotiations and settlements of a mortgage, allow homeowners to make problematic mortgages more affordable by reducing, extending, and deferring payments. Negotiations with the lender can be pursued prior to the time a foreclosure proceeding starts and/or after it has already started. It is important for homeowners in foreclosure, or threatened by foreclosure, to maximize their possibilities for a negotiated settlement, including a loan modification by making such negotiations part of their overall strategy in terms of resolving...