After little action from legislature, Florida judges look to ease flood of foreclosures
by Michael C. Bender | June 14th, 2009
With Florida accounting for one of every six foreclosures in the country and legislators showing little interest in addressing the crisis, a handful of judges are exploring ways to keep borrowers and lenders out of an increasingly congested court system.
“It’s very frustrating to recognize that consistently over the last three years we’ve sustained budget cutbacks and staff reductions in the court system and this tsunami has hit with foreclosures,” said Burton Conner, a judge in the judicial circuit that includes St. Lucie, Martin and Okeechobee counties.
That circuit has begun requiring borrowers and lenders to meet before their first court appearances, leading to many cases being settled. Meanwhile, Palm Beach County’s circuit court last week launched a pilot program to help homeowners understand options that could keep them in their houses.
But action from Tallahassee has been limited, even with nearly 11 percent of all mortgages in Florida in foreclosure – the highest rate in the country, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Foreclosures in Florida dropped from April to May but were still up 50 percent from the same time last year, according to numbers RealtyTrac released Thursday.
Read the Florida Supreme Court’s foreclosure task force interim report here | Complete the court’s foreclosure survey for homeowners, lenders and attorneys here
Tags: Alex Sink, Bill McCollum, Charlie Crist, Florida Supreme Court, foreclosures
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