Around 2012, bankruptcy lawyers began reporting a strange trend: their clients’ bankruptcies were hijacked by third parties, causing significant problems for the debtors’ cases. The fad didn’t reach the East Coast to a significant degree, but New York bankruptcy hijacking is possible. Debtors, especially those who’ve gone without lawyers, should learn what the signs are because the adverse consequences to their bankruptcies can be quite significant.
Bankruptcy hijacking essentially exploits two sets of information that are free to the public: landownership records and bankruptcy filings. (Click here to read about how to find information on a bankruptcy case.) A desperate homeowner contacts a real estate agent or broker to stop a foreclosure on his or her home. The agent, a scammer, then fraudulently deeds the distressed property to a debtor whose bankruptcy filing appears in the system. The scammer’s goal (other than money) is to halt the homeowner’s foreclosure thanks to the automatic stay in place due to the bankruptcy.
The scammer then sends the fraudulent deed to the homeowner’s creditors, who dutifully stop the foreclosure. The lender doesn’t check to see if the actual title documents match the landownership records. Meanwhile, the negative consequences all fall on the hapless debtor. The creditors and possibly the trustee will file a motion against the debtor for relief from the automatic stay, and if the case is in chapter 13, the debtor’s plan might not be confirmed.
Debtors in these circumstances will need to do all the gumshoe work to ensure that the property that was deeded to them does not in fact belong to them. In particular they must show that the property transfer occurred without their knowledge or consent. This isn’t always easy. Homeowners in these circumstances will lose out eventually. Unless the scammers are discovered, they’ll run off with a bundle of cash, leaving the other parties to clean up the mess.
A bankruptcy hijacking is particularly devastating to self-represented debtors. They likely will not understand the circumstances they are in, and creditors will act quickly against them. If they aren’t able to show that they are innocent victims and have acted in good faith all the while, then the consequences against their cases can be quite severe no matter what ultimately happens to the homeowners.
If someone has “enriched” your bankruptcy estate with a property in foreclosure, then you need an experienced New York bankruptcy lawyer to resolve the matter and ensure your case resumes on track.
For answers to more questions about bankruptcy, the automatic stay, effective strategies for dealing with foreclosure, and protecting your assets in bankruptcy please feel free to contact experienced Brooklyn bankruptcy attorney Bruce Weiner for a free initial consultation.