THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT WISCONSIN

MORTGAGE FORECLOSURES

David Leibowitz

and Ryan Blay Lakelaw

©2014 David P. Leibowitz, all rights reserved

Foreword

When you go to court, you raise your right hand. The judge says, "Do you swear that the testimony you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?" We at Lakelaw believe you deserve no less than the whole truth from us.

Why do we defend against mortgage foreclosures in Wisconsin? A few years ago, our founder, David Leibowitz, participated in a conference on mortgage foreclosure in Waukesha presented by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He got up and spoke his mind. One thing led to another. The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago asked him to speak at the next conference. Lakelaw got a grant from the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Administration (WHEDA), to help

Wisconsin residents keep their homes. The Legal Aid Society focused on Milwaukee residents. Lakelaw was given responsibility for the rest of the state.

Lakelaw helped many people deal with their foreclosure issues. We learned you can fight foreclosures in Wisconsin – it's hard– but it's not impossible. Lakelaw can help you. It's the truth.

Introduction

Foreclosures in Wisconsin are not as bad as they used to be. Still, Wisconsin still has higher foreclosure rate than the rest of the country. Thousands of Wisconsin homeowners still face foreclosures due to job losses, medical expenses, increased property tax bills, or just bad luck. Foreclosure in Wisconsin still is a statewide crisis. We see clients throughout Southeastern Wisconsin facing foreclosure every day.

This book is Lakelaw's gift to you. We hope to make it a little easier to understand how foreclosure in Wisconsin works, and give you some practical advice.

We use real-life examples but changed the names to protect our clients’ privacy.

Chapter 1 The Summons and Complaint

Who's your Lender?

You probably borrowed money and gave a mortgage to a company other than the one you are now supposed to be paying. Mortgages are bought and sold all the time. When a mortgage is sold, your lender must tell you the name and address of the new lender. This is a requirement of a federal law called RESPA. This law provides a lot of protection to you. When you come to see us, ask about RESPA and what it means for you.

Let's call the company to which you pay your mortgage payment the Lender. This is a short-cut. The Lender is probably not the company you borrowed from. It is also probably not the company that really owns your loan. The Lender usually services your mortgage loan for whoever really owns it. So the Lender probably is the "servicer" of your mortgage loan. This can make a difference to us when defending your mortgage foreclosure. So when you see us about your foreclosure case, ask about the difference between a Lender and a Servicer.

For now, we will call your mortgage company – the one you're supposed to pay – the Lender.

Foreclosures should not come as a surprise to you. Lenders can't foreclose on you unless you're in default.

Many things can cause a default. The most common reason for defaults are (1) failure to make mortgage payments (2) failure to pay real estate taxes (3) failure to maintain insurance on the property and (4) failure to maintain proper escrow balances.

If you default your Lender will make a lot of noise. Finally, they will demand you "cure the default" by making payments or fixing the problem. If you don't, the Lender will declare the entire loan due. This demand is called acceleration.

With all the advance warnings required, foreclosures shouldn’t come as a surprise. Yet for many people, they do. The service of a summons and complaint can trigger all kinds of emotions in a homeowner: fear, denial, anger, confusion. Many of our clients are so upset they can't even open the envelopes from the Lender. Our clients often tell us they got a "letter" from the Sheriff.

People – this is not any old letter! This demands you to show up in court right away. If you don't show up right away – and we mean right away – very bad things can happen to you. You will lose any rights to contest the foreclosure. Your case will go on the fast track and you will have no defenses.

The summons is a legal notice that the lender (the plaintiff in the lawsuit) must serve on the defendants (the

homeowner, any tenants, any co-borrowers, judgment creditors). It tells you to show up in court and defend yourself.

Wisconsin gives you many chances to defend yourself. Courts and judges are involved at every step. But show up!

To make sure that the homeowners stay involved, the Lender must serve a summons and a copy of the complaint. Usually the summons comes by mail. It looks like a letter. But it's much more important than any old letter. The summons states that you have just 20 days to file an answer to the complaint. This 20-day window is strict and it is critical.

The Complaint is the Lender's side of the story. It typically contains just enough information describing what they need to prove to get a foreclosure judgment. The important points are (1) You borrowed money. (2) You gave a mortgage to secure the loan. (3) You fell behind on payments. (4) Lender demanded full payment. (5) You didn’t pay. (6) Lender wants to sell your house to get back some or all of the money you owe.

Now that we know what the complaint is, we need to return to the answer. The 20 days to answer starts from the time you got the summons. This means the date the sheriff delivered the summons to you. Sometimes the sheriff or process server will write the date and time on a copy of the summons complaint to prove when the service

occurred.

Remember. the 20 days is strict, exact and carved in stone. The only way to get more time is to ask the court’s permission. If you received the summons, Wisconsin Courts rarely if ever will give you more time to answer. Wisconsin Courts will often give you more time to answer if you explain why before the 20 days expire.

Here are some dos and don’ts about the summons and complaint: Do:

• Contact a lawyer when you get the Summons and Complaint. Assume you have exactly 20 days to answer and only that.

• Set aside mortgage payment money. By now, the lender will reject any mortgage payments unless the payment completely cures the default they claim is due. That amount would probably include interest, late charges, attorney’s fees, and other fees. Four months of $700 mortgage payments turns into $5000 quickly. You need that money to pay a lawyer, to use in case the lender can take it and apply it to the loan as part

of a workout, and to have as a backup plan if the lender gets a judgment and you need to move.

• Get together all your mortgage paperwork including any correspondence with the Lender about possible mortgage modifications.

• Try to find out how much you owe on your house and how much your house is worth

• Get paperwork together for any second mortgages you might have taken out on your house.

• Figure out whether your taxes and insurance is up to date or otherwise, how much you owe for these.

Don’t:

• Don't ignore the summons and complaint for even a day! This is an emergency!! If you are served with a summons and complaint, take it seriously and address it immediately. I promise you that if you ignore it, it still is real and won’t go away. You have the right to talk with a lawyer and learn your options. Use that right!

• Don't send a letter to the lender and expect them to give it to the court. If there is a foreclosure in place, that is a legal process. Your lender has hired lawyers to represent them. They are not your friends and not your lawyers. They can’t advise you, and they can’t take a document and give it to the court on your behalf. The state law makes you or your lawyer answer the complaint to say what your position is on the lawsuit. The paperwork says it must be submitted to the court and to the attorneys for the lender (as good practice, it’s also good to give a copy of the answer to other defendants as well).

• Don't send a letter to the court. It won't help you and it won't be considered an answer. You won't say what you need to to help yourself. Maybe you can change your oil, but you probably can't fix your transmission. Even if you've represented yourself in a traffic ticket or a small claim in the past, this experience won't help you defend a mortgage foreclosure.

With this in mind, we can turn to how we answer the complaint.

Chapter 2 The Answer, Affirmative Defenses, and Counterclaims

So you’re in the 20-day window to respond to the complaint and you’re ready to submit your answer. So what's an answer?

The easiest way to think of an answer is your side of the story. Look at the scales of justice. They need to be tipped before either side wins. The scales start balanced. If you don't answer, or your answer admits something, the Lender doesn't have to prove it. Otherwise, the Lender must prove their case enough so that the scales tip in their favor.

We look at the things that the Lender says about you in its complaint. With your help, we either admit these things ("allegations") or we deny them. Sometimes, we say that even if everything the Lender says is true, it still loses. This is an "affirmative defense." Other times, we say that even if the Lender has a case against you, you have an even bigger case against the Lender. This is called a "counterclaim."

But the answer is strictly a response to the paragraphs of the complaint. So for instance a complaint may say:

1. Plaintiff is ABC Mortgage Corporation, a corporation incorporated in Delaware with a principal

place of business in Pennsylvania.

2. Defendant is borrower Stanley Jones, who resides at 523 West Main Street, Oshkosh, WI.

3. On May 1, 2005, Stanley Jones borrowed $125,000 from ABC Mortgage Corporation.

4. To secure this loan, Stanley Jones gave a mortgage on the property described in the mortgage, commonly known as 523 West Main Street, Oshkosh, WI.

5. Stanley Jones missed payments from January-July 2013, causing the loan to go into default.

6. ABC Mortgage Corporation accelerated the note and demanded payment in full, and Mr. Jones has not paid.

7. This is homestead property of the borrower, less than 20 acres of land, and cannot be divided without injury to the property.

8. ABC Mortgage Corporation has elected under Chapter 846 of the Wisconsin Statutes to foreclose and

waive a deficiency against Mr. Jones, seeking a redemption period of 6 months from judgment to sell the property.

9. There are no other active lawsuits to foreclose on this property.

How might Mr. Smith answer? Like this: 1. Don’t have enough information to admit or deny.

2. Admitted.

3. Admitted.

4. Admitted.

5. Denied, putting plaintiff to its proof. I affirmative state I made all payments from January-July 2013.

6. Denied. I never received such a letter or demand.

7. Admitted.

8. Don’t have enough information to admit or deny.

9. Admitted.

Mr. Smith admits or agrees to what he knows for a fact. He doesn’t have to research to know he is Mr. Smith, he borrowed money back in 2005, and that he gave a mortgage. He doesn’t know where the company is based

or what a redemption period is, so he says so. And when he thinks the complaint is wrong, that he really paid (and he has some proof to attach to his answer), he denies. That’s really it.

Besides drafting this answer and appearing in court, a lawyer can help Mr. Smith by identifying possible affirmative defenses and counterclaims. Affirmative defenses are partial defenses that say “yes, what they say is true, but….”. Counterclaims are specific claims against the plaintiff that stand on their own. For instance, “I was told on April 23rd by representative Janine of ABC Mortgage Company that in order to get a loan modification, I had to be late on my payments, so I stopped” might be an affirmative defense, because it suggests a reason for missing payments. Whereas “My lender violated the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) by collecting improper fees and making improper charges” is a counterclaim, because it may entitle the borrower to damages and be a unique cause of action.

What if your Lender isn't the company you borrowed money from? We sometimes can say as an "affirmative defense" that the Lender doesn't have the right to bring the foreclosure because it doesn't have "standing." You may have read that the Lender must "show you the note" and that if it does not, you can get a free house.

We have to tell you that that isn't the law in Wisconsin or anywhere else. If you think that we can help you get a free house, Lakelaw is not the law firm for you. Still there are defenses and these can be very valuable to you.

If you’re not sure if you have defenses or counterclaims, talk to us and we'll go over everything with you.

Real Life Example

Borrowers Mark and Samantha Thomas came to our offices a few years ago. They were frustrated with their lender, who foreclosed on a loan after some payments the bank claimed were missing. Looking at their records, they believed they had tried to repay the past due payments but the bank’s lawyers at the time did not accept or pass along the payments. Further, the Thomases noted they had not received copies of required disclosure under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA), giving them up to 3 years from the loan closing to seek a “rescission”, where they proposed returning the property and getting their money back. The claim on payments or a claim that the bank and its lawyers intentionally failed to accept money

(sometimes called unclean hands), may serve as an affirmative defense – payment on the loan would defeat the right to get a judgment of foreclosure for missing payments. The TILA claim is a counter-claim. Even if the bank was granted a judgment for foreclosure, this huge claim, if successful, could mean that the bank would be required to accept the house back in exchange for releasing the money borrowed to finance the house.

Chapter 3

The Scheduling Order

If you submit an answer, you’ve now alerted the Court there are issues. Every judge and county has different procedures, but most judges, if they get an answer and nothing further, will issue a notice for a scheduling conference.

The scheduling conference makes sure all issues are in place and to establish a timeframe for proceeding. The lender will ask for dates to file motions and other papers. They may also ask for time to issue discovery. This lets the Lender get information from you and also gives you a chance to get information about the Lender's case from the Lender or anyone else ever involved in your mortgage loan.

At the scheduling conference, the Court will issue an order – the scheduling order – which all the parties agree to that says when each side will complete certain requirements to move the case toward a decision.

Plan to attend the scheduling conference, either in person or by phone – most courts will need you to ask permission to appear by phone. It’s the first chance to make a good impression with the judge. You don't have to come at all if we're your lawyers and representing you. But it is not the time to raise arguments – that will come

later. This is more for the court’s benefit than the parties, because it allows the court to internally note deadlines and move cases along.

If the case involves a lot of arguing and disputes over facts, the scheduling order is important. It limits the time to investigate the facts and create arguments. A good lawyer will know when to ask for more time and how to use their time effectively to prepare a good case. That may mean depositions of bank representatives, a careful review of loan documents and questions based on those documents, and careful arguments to prevent a judgment of foreclosure from being entered.

You'll see that the time allowed from the scheduling order can be fairly extensive. It will greatly enhance your chances to stay in your home an extended period of time. It will greatly enhance your ability to seek a mortgage modification agreement. You'll have a lot more time to seek mortgage mediation in counties which permit this. You'll have a lot more time to think about your options in bankruptcy should you and your lawyers think this is a good idea for you. And in the worst case, you'll have a lot more time to get ready to move if that's your plan.

Chapter 4

Mediation and Alternate Dispute Resolution

Early in the foreclosure case, the parties can try to resolve the matter instead of taking it to the judge for a decision. This saves litigation expenses, time, and ideally gets a good result for both parties. Some alternatives can include a loan modification, an agreement to consent to a judgment and leave the property, a reinstatement of the loan by paying back the amount due, a short sale or deed –in-lieu of foreclosure, or just an agreement to dismiss the case and drop it.

The way to reach these results is through alternate dispute resolution. This usually involves the skilled work of mediators through countywide mediation programs. First launched in Milwaukee through Marquette University, the countywide programs are growing available in more counties and provide a system where the borrower applies for mediation for a small fee, and the lender can accept or reject mediation. It’s not required or forced. If the lender says yes, the borrower goes to a housing counselor to prepare paperwork similar to that the government asks for in a loan modification request. The parties each pay for a mediator and meet (with the borrowers, the mediator, the borrower’s lawyer, and the lender’s lawyer in person, and usually the lender on the phone) to see what options are available. If the answer is

no, then the case will go forward. If there is another option reached, the lender can dismiss the case with the right to re-file if the agreement goes bad, or they can get their judgment, depending on the agreement.

Mediations are effective because mediation departments at mortgage companies are usually better trained than regular loss mitigation departments. They are trained to analyze documents, reach out to lenders (or their attorneys, or the housing counselor) to get more documents or clarifications, and to deliver a result quickly.

Talk to an attorney early to see if mediation is available in your county. Note: Many counties only permit mediation if you are not in an active bankruptcy and if the house is your primary residence.

Real Life Example

Lakelaw obtained permanent loan modifications for two recent clients. Janice Jones received her modification after mediation in state court. The bank offered her a trial period plan, which she accepted. After the trial was up, she received an offer to permanently modify the loan and dismiss the foreclosure entirely. She accepted it with warm thanks to Lakelaw. Meanwhile, we attended a mediation arranged through the bankruptcy court for John and Alice Knight. John and Alice were eligible for a

reduction in the principal balance on their loan thanks to a settlement with the Attorneys General of 49 states. Their big bank servicer lowered the amount and the interest payment as well, resulting in an affordable payment that makes their bankruptcy more likely to complete successfully. Credit goes to Ms. Jones and the Knights for being responsive and getting us the documents we needed to help them with their loans.

Chapter 5

Discovery and Qualified Written Requests

Both sides can exchange information while the case is in its early stages. What does that mean for a homeowner? Let’s discuss what the borrower can do to beef up their case and defenses.

First, under RESPA, the borrower can submit a Qualified Written Request. What is this and how can it help? A Qualified Written Request is a formal (and, as the name suggests, written) request usually sent to a special division of the lender to get verification of the debt and an accounting on the loan. You have the right to ask about servicing and make sure payments are properly applied to your account. This is usually done by sending a certified letter with return request requested. The Catalan case says these letters need not have any magic words, although calling the letter a QWR and addressing it to the department that handles the requests usually helps prevent any confusion.

The federal Dodd-Frank Act provides that servicers now have just 5 business days to acknowledge receipt of the QWR. They have 20 business days to respond to the QWR.

This is technical. You can do this yourself. But you'll get better results if we do this for you. This can be a

helpful tool because it gives you the lender’s view on where payments were applied and if they were received. If they put you into foreclosure for missing three months payments, and you have cancelled checks and bank records showing you made the payments and they were cashed, something is definitely wrong!

QWRs may take time, but they impose a liability on the lender to respond, or else there is a technical violation, which you can bring up in court.

Meanwhile, you can conduct discovery before a trial is held. Discovery usually involves asking questions which the lender must answer, taking depositions (interviews under oath) of parties, asking the opponent to admit or deny certain facts, and asking for records.

Again, banks and lenders may go out of their way not to produce documents. Also, it is rare that a bank representative will say under oath “yes, we received payments from Mr. Smith, but we ignored them!” Instead, you are looking for support for your defenses and claims and to poke holes in their case, for instance by showing that the foreclosing party does not understand where the original note is, or that they misapplied payments along the way.

Part 6: Bankruptcy During The Foreclosure Process

Lakelaw doesn’t just help homeowners in foreclosure save their homes. We also represent debtors in consumer bankruptcies. We’ve filed a lot of bankruptcy petitions for homeowners during the foreclosure process to help with debts and to help our clients keep their homes.

Bankruptcy has the added advantage of a short “time out” to help meet those goals. The instant a bankruptcy is filed, an “automatic stay” stops actions like wage garnishments, repossessions, foreclosure judgments and sales and bank levies. That stay is so important because it can give a homeowner in foreclosure time to prepare defenses, to catch up on missed payments and reinstate their loan, or to get some additional time before leaving the property. That few extra weeks or months can make all the difference in the world.

When the lender files a foreclosure action, the borrower can file a bankruptcy at any point from the time of the summons and complaint until the foreclosure sale is confirmed. Once the foreclosure sale is confirmed, the property goes to the high bidder at auction and there is no legal right to the property any more. If you want to file a bankruptcy to save your home from foreclosure, Do Not Delay!!

When a borrower files a Chapter 7 bankruptcy when their house is in foreclosure, the “automatic stay” kicks in. The stay lasts from the time of the filing until one of two things happen: the bankruptcy case closes a few months later or the lender asks the court for the right to pick up where they left off in the foreclosure process. This is called a “motion for relief from the automatic stay” – a long way of saying the lender can go back to the state court without breaking the law. Please remember: You can still save your home in a Chapter 7! During or after the bankruptcy, you and your servicer may try to work on a loan modification or other options to save the home if the trustee in bankruptcy isn’t interested in the house (for instance, if the property has zero equity). Filing a bankruptcy and discharging credit card or medical debt could make the mortgage payment affordable again and put you in line to keep your home. Call to discuss this with us right away - not when a sale is about to happen.

If Lakelaw files a Chapter 13, the stay could last quite awhile. You could lose the benefits of the stay if you decide to surrender the home, if you miss post-filing mortgage payments, if you fail to pay taxes or insurance, if you don’t maintain the property or some other reason giving the lender cause.

In Chapter 13 bankruptcy you can keep your house by making up the back payments over up to a 5 year period through the plan and paying a monthly payment to the mortgage servicer after the case is filed. It’s called a “cure and maintain” plan. Your servicer must take your payments again.

Now suppose we file the bankruptcy and our client makes all of their bankruptcy payments on time and makes their monthly mortgage payments to their servicer on time too. Can the lender foreclose? NO. That’s the power of the stay. Again, call us to explain how we can use a Chapter 13 bankruptcy plan to keep your house and get your servicer to stop bothering you with calls about missed payments.

As another option to keep your home, Wisconsin has mediation programs through the bankruptcy courts. The Eastern District of Wisconsin (covering the eastern half of the state including Green Bay, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, and the Kenosha/Racine/Walworth area) has had their process in place for over a year. The Western District of Wisconsin (Madison, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Wausau and the remaining western half of the state) is working on a similar program. If your bankruptcy district offers mediation, you have the right to file a Chapter 13 bankruptcy and ask your servicer to mediate in good faith. If they accept, there will be a streamlined process to

review you for loan modifications and other ways to save your home.

Bankruptcy can help you save your home – but NOT by fighting the foreclosure in bankruptcy court. Bankruptcy is a matter of federal law, while foreclosures get to be decided by state court judges in Wisconsin. Under recent court decisions, bankruptcy judges have been told very clearly they cannot decide certain cases. These would include common state court cases like foreclosures. Also, court decisions created a longstanding rule that these courts cannot act as way to appeal a state court ruling you’re not happy with. So if JPMorgan Chase Bank obtains a judgment of foreclosure against Jane Doe, Jane can’t go into bankruptcy court and argue a lack of standing or another element relating to the judgment. That is why if a borrower has legal defenses to the foreclosure, they have to be raised early and often!

Because bankruptcy stops the foreclosure process and won’t let it re-start without court approval, borrowers in foreclosure should consider bankruptcy as a remedy to eliminate debt and obtain more time. So filing a bankruptcy just before a judgment hearing, before a sale, or before a confirmation of sale all could provide more time and an opportunity to retain the home.

Real Life Example

Tony LaSorda was angry his servicer wouldn’t give him a straight answer about a loan modification. Between the lost paperwork and the constantly changing stories from the bank, he was about to give up. The servicer held the sheriff’s sale and was about to confirm the sale – by mail, no less – not even at a hearing! – when we intervened. We asked for a hearing and explained to the judge what Mr. LaSorda was going through. The hearing was continued (pushed back) several times, and we filed a bankruptcy for Mr. LaSorda to help him with other debts and to make sure that sale was not confirmed. Even after his bankruptcy was done, the bank didn’t move forward with the foreclosure for months!

Chapter 7: Redemption Periods

I can’t tell you how many times we shake a client’s hand, sit down, and the first question out of their mouth is “How much time do I have left in my home?” Well, the time before having to leave your home because of a foreclosure depends on a lot of factors. The most important of those factors is the redemption period.

When the bank gets a judgment, they can’t just knock on the door and say “Get out….now”. In some states, it almost feels that way since they don’t have a process with a judge and a court process. But Wisconsin has redemption periods that allow for a redemption of the property (paying off the loan through a sale or refinance), reinstatement (bringing the loan current and dismissing the foreclosure), loss mitigation (a short sale, deed-in-lieu of foreclosure, or loan modification), or just wait out the process until the sale is held and confirmed.

Do you live in the house you own? If the answer is yes, the redemption period will almost always be six months. The six months is for owner-occupied properties smaller than 20 acres –just about every house you ever see driving to work and home. The trick is that to get this six month time, the lender cannot seek a deficiency balance from you. The deficiency is the difference between what you owe and what the lender gets at auction. So if your

property is only worth $100,000, but the loan with judgment and interest and attorney’s fees is $120,000, the bank will normally agree to waive that and get the shortened redemption period. For those banks that want to be really aggressive and mean, the redemption period jumps to 12 months on an owner-occupied property. As you can probably guess, the banks would probably rather get the house back six months faster and not try to collect on a debt that’s so hard to recover!

If the property is rental property or otherwise non-owner occupied, the redemption period is set at 3 months with no deficiency sought, or 6 months if the lender wants the deficiency. For abandoned properties, the redemption period is a mere 5 weeks. The judgment order, once signed, starts the countdown. What’s the redemption period the bank wants in your foreclosure? Are they coming after you for a deficiency? Let us review and discuss your foreclosure to explain to you what might happen. Then we’ll discuss how to keep that from happening.

Real Life Example Tom Manning owned several properties, including his home. As his home went into foreclosure, the bank took the rare step of seeking a deficiency judgment. Not only would he lose his home, but he’d have to pay a money judgment on top of that. Talk about adding insult to injury! What could we do for Tom? Well, he was okay with giving up the property, but he didn’t want to face a judgment he couldn’t pay. And he didn’t want to enter a bankruptcy. So we fought the foreclosure. Because the bank couldn’t produce the right paperwork, we forced them to stop – until they agreed to let go of the deficiency judgment. Lakelaw gets results for our clients.

Chapter 8:

For Wisconsin Foreclosure Cases, Timing is Everything

We’ve already discussed how you only have 20 days to respond to a foreclosure complaint with an answer. The scheduling order gives both you and your lender time to prepare arguments in a foreclosure case. Also, we taught you how you can time a bankruptcy filing to stop a sale, a confirmation of sale, or a judgment hearing. If you have a judgment of foreclosure entered against you, don’t forget you have a redemption period to stay in the home or save it before a sale happens.

The important lesson we want you to take from this is that timing is so critical in every stage of the foreclosure process. The same timing that says you must pay your mortgage payment at the beginning of each month (with a brief grace period)? It also says you have a very short window of time to answer the complaint, start the fight, and to decide what to do next.

The best way to make sure you maximize your time is get expert legal advice right now. Lawyers like us are trained to analyze a situation and give legal advice.

We at Lakelaw are grateful that you have reached out to us . We are prepared to represent you with the care, kindness, courtesy, respect, professionalism and

dedication you expect and deserve. We want you to keep your home but above all we want you to keep your dignity throughout this difficult situation.

About The Authors

David P. Leibowitz David Leibowitz founded Lakelaw in 1999 after more than 25 years of distinguished practice in Chicago. He is active in all practice areas of the firm, including mortgage foreclosure defense. David is the only lawyer in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin board certified in both business bankruptcy and consumer bankruptcy. In recent years, David has achieved national recognition for his work in dealing with predatory mortgages in and outside of bankruptcy court. David has spearheaded Lakelaw’s growth as a consumer advocacy law firm and as an interstate law firm with five offices in Wisconsin and Illinois. For more information about David’s extensive background, publications and presentations, and devotion to his clients and to his firm, please visit www.lakelaw.com, follow David on Twitter (@davidleibowitz), add him as a connection on LinkedIn, or “Like” Lakelaw on Facebook – www.facebook.com/lakelaw.

Ryan Blay

Ryan Blay joined Lakelaw as an associate in 2009 after representing thousands of debtors in bankruptcy in Chicago and Northern Illinois.

Ryan manages Lakelaw’s Wisconsin offices from Kenosha and operates the firm’s Milwaukee office. A Milwaukee native, Ryan is a frequent speaker on mortgage foreclosure defense for the National Bankruptcy Institute and has spoken at the Milwaukee Bar Association and the State Bar of Wisconsin. Ryan is the active secretary of the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Young Lawyers Division and is active in bar associations ranging from Chicago and Lake County in Illinois to Milwaukee, Racine County, Walworth County and Kenosha County. You can follow Ryan on Twitter at @LakelawKenosha or add him on LinkedIn. He also contributes regularly to Lakelaw’s blog, available on the Lakelaw website. David and Ryan wish to express their thanks to their respective spouses and families for their support, and the dedication and teamwork of the Lakelaw attorneys and staff, without which we could not advocate for our clients with the success we’ve had.