Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Maryland

I went to file a bankruptcy and found out that my deed of trust is invalid. The bankruptcy attorney and a separate real estate attorney both confirmed this. In Maryland the trustee on the deed of trust must be a person and it is not. Also, the language of the deed of trust implies that the borrower is my husband and not myself. The bankruptcy lawyer said that I needed to get this straightened out before I file because legally half of the house is mine and right now it looks as if there is no debt that is valid.

Which means that the trustee would require the sale of my house to pay my debts. I am married and trying to file on my own not with my husband.


Asked on 4/29/10, 2:02 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Daniel Press Chung & Press, P.C.

There could be a number of possible outcomes here, and you need to pick a good bankruptcy lawyer and take his/her advice. It is possible that you get a huge windfall and that the deed of trust will be voided, and that if your property is properly titled to you as tenants by the entireties and only your husband is on the note (so it is not joint debt) and there is no other joint debt, you get the property free and clear. But a defect such as this may not void the deed of trust - in fact, usually it doesn't. It just throws a wrench into the foreclosure process until they substitute a valid trustee.

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Answered on 5/04/10, 3:21 pm
Cedulie Laumann Arden Law Firm, LLC

The attorneys you retained should be able to explain the treatment of any mortgage debt in your bankruptcy but I did want to clarify a point raised by the prior response.

When you take out a mortgage, you sign a promise to repay (the note) and grant a trustee certain rights to sell the property if you don't pay (deed of trust). The debt exists even if the deed of trust contains a defect. Thus even if the attorney advice you mentioned is correct (that you have an "invalid" deed of trust) it does not invalidate any debt or personal liability under the note.

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Answered on 5/04/10, 7:12 pm


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