Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

Re: Recently Separated

Believe it or not, missed payments since January is

not all that big a deal from the mortgage company's

point of view. Don't get me wrong, they want to

start getting the income stream going again, but I

have seen mortgage company's hesitate for up to three

years before even begining foreclosure proceedings.

The reason for telling you that is to let you know

that your situation may not be all that hopeless.

But you do have a number of issues to deal with. If

your name is on the mortgage and the house goes to

foreclosure, since there is no equity in it there will

very likely be a difficiency judgment filed against

you. They'll come after you because your husband

is already getting bankruptcy protection.

Whether you want the house or not, you really need

to get proactive about this now. If you want the

house, talk to your lawyer and see if he can't work

something out for you. If he doesn't deal with

bankruptcy then ask him to associate with someone

who does for this matter so that you know what to

do next.

Since it's probably not too late to try to work something

out, the sooner you get things rolling the better.

But I wouldn't wait too long. When your husband filed

for bankruptcy he received an automatic stay which

will prevent the house from being foreclosed upon,

assuming that the foreclosure had not yet been

completed. If that's the case, then the mortgage

company will doubtless file a motion to lift the

stay and you need to get involved while all that

legal manuvering is still going on.

Good luck to you.