What Does The Mortgage Company Have To Prove To Take My House?

Michael Powell in the New York Times tells what it takes in one Brooklyn Court, for a mortgage company to take a house.

Judge Schack takes his judicial oath seriously.

He does not grant motions by mortgage companies just because they are unopposed; he actually reads them.

I first saw this philosophy in action with the late Judge Brody, bankruptcy judge in Detroit.

I told him the order I was presenting was unopposed, as he had started reading it.

He looked up and told me he reads everything before he signs it, asking, ‘You heard about the Judge who signed his own death warrant?”

So, in at least one Brooklyn court, the mortgage company has to actually prove it owns the note, that is, it has the security interest in the home, and is entitled to foreclose on it.

The mortgage company attorneys usually say, why should the home buyer get a free house?

But the question is, why should the mortgage company get a free house?

If they cannot prove it is their lien, why should a court give them the house, instead of anyone else who asks for it.

Unless they can prove who owns the note, the Court should not enforce a mortgage lien.

I cannot wait to use this in a Michigan case, which should happen as a result of the changes in Michigan foreclosure law.