Oklahoma Foreclosure Law Firms

No one wins when a home enters foreclosure. Right? Seems reasonable. I mean the poor homeowner gets kicked out of his house and the lender usually takes a loss when the home is resold.

But hold up a second because believe it or not, some people are getting rich off of home foreclosures.

There is a small army of law firms and default servicing companies who do nothing but foreclosure work for banks, mortgage companies and mortgage servicers. I even have good friends who are attorneys that work for “the dark side,” as I affectionately call it. And as the economy worsens and home foreclosures increase, these groups are raking in the money.

You see, these law firms or “foreclosure mills” as they are sometimes called usually get paid by the number of “motions” they file both in foreclosure and bankruptcy cases. And so they file lots of motions which generates a lot of fees such as eviction and appraisal charges, late fees, title search costs, recording fees, certified mailing costs, document retrieval fees, and legal fees. Some of these fees go to the servicing companies and some are kept by the law firms. But it’s the unfortunate homeowner, already in financial distress, who gets the bill for these fees and costs.

The possibility that lenders and their lawyers are running roughshod over homeowners is of increasing concern to bankruptcy judges across the country. For years bankruptcy judges routinely approved these foreclosure lawyers’ claims and fees, but now with the foreclosure crisis threatening millions of American families, the foreclosure lawyers’ practices are coming under increased scrutiny. One bankruptcy judge recently said that more and more lenders and their lawyers “in their rush to foreclose, haphazardly fail to comply with even the most basic legal requirements of the bankruptcy system.”

And the United States Trustee Program, a unit of the Justice Department that oversees the integrity of the nation’s bankruptcy courts, is bringing cases against lenders and their lawyers who it says are abusing the bankruptcy system.

In Oklahoma, the major foreclosure law firms are:

• Baer, Timberlake, Coulson & Cates, Tulsa & Oklahoma City
• Kivell, Rayment & Francis, Tulsa
• Lamun, Mock, Cunnyngham & Davis, Oklahoma City
• Shapiro & Cjeda, Oklahoma City

For more information on this “foreclosure machine” and the dangers it poses to American families, read the New York Times’ article “Foreclosure Machine Thrives On Woes.”

If you are facing home foreclosure in Oklahoma and would like to know more about how bankruptcy may be able to help you, contact me today by phone or email to schedule a FREE initial consultation. I would count it a privilege to be able to visit with you in a relaxed and confidential environment where I’ll answer all of your questions in plain English and give you the straight scoop on the pros and cons of bankruptcy as related to your specific situation.