Faced With Foreclosure, Homeowners Can't Get Lawyers to Help
The foreclosure crisis is also a legal crisis, a new study says.
When homeowners struggling to pay their mortgages try to find lawyers help them fight to hang onto their homes, many can’t do so, reports USA Today.
Hiring a private lawyer to help with the complex proceedings can easily cost $5,000. And legal aid clinics swamped by a deluge of foreclosures can’t help everyone, according to a study released today by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.
“Many homeowners are losing their homes because they lack the ability to navigate the landscape of our lending laws,” the center says in a press release that links to the full report on the study.
“It’s overwhelming how many people don’t have representation,” says Melanca Clark, a Brennan Center for Justice attorney who co-authored the study. “People don’t know what to do when they have to go through this alone.”
Some 60 to 85 percent of the defendants in foreclosure in some hard-hit areas don’t have lawyers, the study found. While, for a number of defendants, foreclosure is inevitable, a good lawyer will recognize appropriate defenses that some can assert against their lenders and may be able to help a significant number refinance or at least slow down the process long enough to find alternative housing, the press release states.
Legal Services of Greater Miami Inc. is so busy that it can only represent those over 60 and families with children, senior attorney Carolina Lombardi tells the newspaper.
Related earlier coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Mortgage Delinquencies at Record 13%, Still Rising”
ABAJournal.com: “Business Booming for Lawyers Who Help Homeowners Facing Foreclosure”
ABAJournal.com: “Tempted By Foreclosure Crisis, Some Lawyers Overcharge & Underwork”
