The issue of forged and fraudulent reconveyances has plagued secured lenders, mortgage servicers, and title companies for years. As was too often the case in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis, a secured lender, investor, or loan servicer may find itself the victim of a forged reconveyance of their secured loan. When this happens, title to real property will appear unencumbered, yet the loan is still fully owing and payable. An unscrupulous and/or opportunistic borrower may then obtain further loans secured by the real property creating an issue with intervening liens and lien priority. Chaos and uncertainty ensues for the financial institutions involved. And oftentimes, the secured party is too late to discover the fraudulent activity in order to take immediate corrective measures to protect the lien position and validity. By this time, the relevant statutes of limitations to seek a court order cancelling the fraudulent reconveyance or to seek a judicial declaration have lapsed.
Due to The Ryan Firm’s unique approach to these situations, these will now be problems of the past.
To ring in 2023, The Ryan Firm attorneys Andrew Mase and Katherine Meleski successfully negotiated and counseled a national mortgage servicer and institutional investor into a large settlement to remedy a problem created by a forged reconveyance from 2008. Essentially, elements of organized crime recorded a forged reconveyance which purported to release a secured lien of over $680,000.00. At the time that the matter was then referred to The Ryan Firm for representation, no action had been taken to foreclose from 2008 to 2021, nor were any payments ever made – and former counsel was recommending taking a significant loss to settle the matter. After The Ryan Firm was brought aboard, a solution was found and The Ryan Firm obtained a lucrative payoff to release the lien.
The Ryan Firm is approached by clients about forged reconveyances every year, sometimes multiple times per year. The resolution is nearly always the same – a full payoff – despite other attorneys counseling that it is a write-off.
Should you find yourself in a situation of uncertainty and unpredictability caused by a forged and fraudulent reconveyance, The Ryan Firm stands ready to step-in to right the ship.