Thursday, February 11, 2010

Florida Supreme Court Amends Residential Foreclosure Rules Of Civil Procedure

The Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion today amending the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure with regard to residential foreclosures.  The consolidated opinion in IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE (SC09-1460) and IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE - FORM 1.996 (FINAL JUDGMENT OF FORECLOSURE) (SC09-1579) can be viewed HERE.  The changes are below:

With regard to SCO9-1460, the first amendment was:
Rule 1.110(b) is amended to require verification of mortgage foreclosure complaints involving residential real property. The primary purposes of this amendment are (1) to provide incentive for the plaintiff to appropriately investigate and verify its ownership of the note or right to enforce the note and ensure that the allegations in the complaint are accurate; (2) to conserve judicial resources that are currently being wasted on inappropriately pleaded "lost note."
Second:
The new form is meant to help standardize affidavits of diligent search and inquiry and provide information to the court regarding the methods used to attempt to locate and serve the defendant.
Third, the process server must now state:
I inquired of the occupant of the premises whether the occupant knows the location of the borrower-defendant, with the following results: ________.
Next, the court amended the form to incorporate the provisions of section 49.041, Florida Statutes which "sets forth the minimum requirements for an affidavit of diligent search and inquiry." 

For the final change,  the court stated:
Finally, we adopt the Task Force’s proposed Motion to Cancel and Reschedule Foreclosure Sale as new form 1.996(b). The Task Force recommended adoption of this new form in which the plaintiff would provide the court with an explanation of why the foreclosure sale needs to be cancelled and request that the court reschedule the sale."
With regard to case SC09-1579, the court stated:
First, to conform to current statutory requirements, a notice to lienholders and directions to property owners as to how to claim a right to funds remaining after public auction is added to the form. See § 45.031(1), Fla. Stat. (2009). Additionally, to conform to current statutory provisions allowing the clerk of court to conduct judicial sales via electronic means, the form is amended to accommodate this option. See § 45.031(10), Fla. Stat. (2009).
Other amendments are as follows: (1) in order to provide greater clarity and prevent errors, paragraph one of the form is amended to set out amounts due in a column format; (2) paragraph two is amended to allow for the possibility that there may be more than one defendant, and out of concern for privacy interests, the lines for an address and social security number are deleted; (3) paragraph four is amended to conform to existing practice and require a successful purchaser to pay the documentary stamps on the certificate of title; (4) paragraph six is amended to accommodate the possibility that there may be multiple defendants, to adapt to the requirements of section 45.0315, Florida Statutes (2009), stating that the right of redemption expires upon the filing of the certificate of sale, unless otherwise specified in the judgment, to recognize the potential survival of certain liens after foreclosure as provided in chapter 718 (the Condominium Act) and chapter 720 (Homeowners’ Association), Florida Statutes (2009), and to allow a purchaser to obtain a writ of possession from the clerk of court without further order of the court

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