Changes coming to Durable Powers of Attorney?

Following on the heels of changes in New York's law regarding powers of attorney, the New Jersey Law Revision Commission was scheduled to discuss at its July meeting a memorandum comparing New Jersey's existing law on durable powers of attorney with New York's changes to its law.

The memo, available here, compares the new law in New York and current law in New Jersey.

Among the changes adopted in New York outlined in the memo-- the new form of power of attorney

"is not valid until it is signed by both the principal and agent, whose signatures are duly acknowledged in the manner prescribed for the acknowledgement of a conveyance of real property. The effective date of the power of attorney as to a given agent is the date on which that agent’s signature is acknowledged. If two or more agents are designated to act together, the power of attorney takes effect when all the agents so designated have signed the power of attorney and their signatures have been acknowledged."

"A grant of authority to make major gifts and other asset transfers must be set out in a separate rider which contains the principal’s signature, duly notarized and witnessed by two persons not named in the instrument as permissible recipients of gifts or other transfers, in the same manner as a will. In the alternative, the principal may grant such authority to the agent in a nonstatutory power of attorney executed in the same manner as a major gifts rider. An agent acting pursuant to the authority granted by this rider or nonstatutory power of attorney must act in accordance with the instructions of the principal or, in the absence of such instructions, in the principal’s best interests."

"The agent must sign the power of attorney as an acknowledgment of the agent’s
fiduciary obligations if the agent intends to accept the appointment. In transactions on behalf of the principal, the agent’s legal relationship to the principal must be disclosed where a handwritten signature is required."

The minutes of the Commission's July meeting have not yet been released and an inquiry seeking more information has not yet received a response.

We'll keep you posted.

A tip of the hat to Nickolas Nasuta, Esq. for pointing us to these developments.

For your next title order,
or if you have questions about what you see here,

contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

Sphere: Related Content

The Next Fannie Mae

From the Wall Street Journal:

Much to their dismay, Americans learned last year that they “owned” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Well, meet their cousin, Ginnie Mae or the Government National Mortgage Association, which will soon join them as a trillion-dollar packager of subprime mortgages. Taxpayers own Ginnie too.

Ginnie Mae, has seen this spectacular growth due to the swelling of FHA insured loans. Today, "nearly nine of every 10 new mortgages in America now carry a federal taxpayer guarantee."

Herein lies the problem. The FHA’s standard insurance program today is notoriously lax. It backs low downpayment loans, to buyers who often have below-average to poor credit ratings, and with almost no oversight to protect against fraud. Sound familiar? This is called subprime lending—the same financial roulette that busted Fannie, Freddie and large mortgage houses like Countrywide Financial.

While HUD's Inspector General is sounding alarm bells about new trends in FHA lending that could lead to the need for a Congressional appropriation to cover a short fall in reserves, folks at the top are turning a deaf ear.

Read the full editorial, here.

For your next title order
or if you have questions about what you see here,

contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

Sphere: Related Content

NY Times- Fees deter loan modification effort

The New York Times reports on the impact that servicing fees have on a lender's willingness to modify a mortgage or otherwise assist a homeowner facing foreclosure.

Although the White House is calling on lenders to assist borrowers,

"industry insiders and legal experts say the limited capacity of mortgage companies is not the primary factor impeding the government’s $75 billion program to prevent foreclosures. Instead, it is that many mortgage companies are reluctant to give strapped homeowners a break because the companies collect lucrative fees on delinquent loans."

What's going on?

Legal experts say the opportunities for additional revenue in delinquency are considerable, confronting mortgage companies with a conflict between their own financial interest in collecting fees and their responsibility to recoup money for investors who own most mortgages.

“The rules by which servicers are reimbursed for expenses may provide a perverse incentive to foreclose rather than modify,” concluded a recent paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

It's not a pleasant self- portrait that the mortgage industry is painting. But it goes hand in hand with the comments we get from potential borrowers that they can't modify their loans or get a new mortgage to replace the old when market values have declined. No one ever accused the mortgage industry of being altruistic, but good business sometimes requires that you protect your customer base, too.

One thing seems to be clear-- until home values begin to rise and people go back to work, we're go to see more mortgage defaults.

Read the full article Lucrative Fees May Deter Efforts to Alter Loans

For your next title order
or if you have questions about what you see here, contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

Sphere: Related Content

NY Times- Subprime brokers resurface as fixers

We've previously commented on the presence of folks in the mortgage market who bore some responsibility for the current mortgage crisis. (See Where's there a buck to be made and Would you buy a used loan from these guys?)

Now the Times reports,

From the ninth floor of a downtown office building on Wilshire Boulevard, Jack Soussana delivered staggering numbers of mortgages to homeowners during the real estate boom, amassing a fortune.

By Mr. Soussana’s own account, his customers fared less happily. He specialized in the exotic mortgages that have proved most prone to sliding into foreclosure, leaving many now scrambling to save their homes.

Yet the dangers assailing Mr. Soussana’s clients have yielded fresh business for him: Late last year, he and his team — ensconced in the same office where they used to broker mortgages — began working for a loan modification company. For fees reaching $3,495, with most of the money collected upfront, they promised to negotiate with lenders to lower payments on the now-delinquent mortgages they and their counterparts had sprinkled liberally across Southern California.

Where does it end? That's the same question being raised by actions of the Federal Trade Commission as it brings charges against Mr. Soussana's company, FedMod.

The suit, filed in California federal court, asserts that FedMod frequently exaggerated its rates of success, advised clients to stop making their mortgage payments, did little or nothing to modify loans and failed to promptly refund fees. The suit seeks an end to FedMod’s practices, and compensation for customers.

Other companies are being targeted by the FTC. Read more in Subprime Brokers Resurface as Dubious Loan Fixers.

For your next title order
or if you have questions about what you see here,

contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

Sphere: Related Content

Getting tax advice

Attorney Julian Block writing in Realty Times--

Internal Revenue Code changes have averaged one--per--day over the past eight years ---- with 500 revisions in 2008 alone. Who's counting? Nina Olson, the National Taxpayer Advocate, announced the statistics in her annual report to Congress. An independent organization within the IRS, the Taxpayer Advocate Service helps taxpayers resolve complaints with the agency when problems cannot
be resolved through normal channels.

Mr. Block asks and answers the question, "Will Advocate Olson's reports convince our lawmakers to draw back from their drawing board? Not during these troubled times. Expect them to enact even more alterations to an already confusing code in the immediate future."

Individuals turn to tax professionals, CPAs, and Enrolled Agents, "who are neither attorneys nor CPAs, but who are former IRS employees or have passed rigorous tax examinations administered by the IRS." But there are alternatives, such as inexpensive adult education courses.

Block warns, "But people who need financial advice should be wary of free lunch seminars that are actually showcases for hucksters. Seminar sponsors usually promote their programs as educational events, with free meals thrown in. But the seminars generally feature hard -- sell pitches for substandard investments designed to enrich the sponsors -- many may be Uncle Bernie wannabes -- and impoverish investors, especially unwitting seniors."

Read the full article, Calling for Tax Advice the Inexpensive Way

For your next title order
or if you have questions about what you see here, contact Stephen M. Flatow
Vested Title Inc.
648 Newark Avenue, P.O. Box 6453, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel 201-656-9220 - Fax 201-656-4506
E-mail vti@vested.com - www.vested.com

Sphere: Related Content