There has been a lot of publicity lately about the foreclosure crisis in Ohio. Here in Ohio, the crisis is real. In 2007, one out of every 56 Ohio homes went into some stage of foreclosure. This is the 6th highest rate nationwide. In April, Franklin County had 1 in every 236 in some stage of foreclosure. You can view these statistics at www.realtytrac.com. The foreclosure comes about because the rate adjusts to a point that may take up to 85% of the family’s income, or there is a lack of escrow. Some of this can be blamed on inflated incomes being given, sometimes as high as over 50% of the actual income. A national study fournt that over 90% of homes loans were based on inflated incomes. Fortunately, there are still many options, but only if homeowners act quickly. The best approach is to anticipate the situation and then to attempt to do something.

For example, there are workout options, such as forebearance agreements, repayment plans, mortgage modifications, short sales or deeds in lieu of foreclosure. Each of these options has consequences that need to be clearly understood. The first step, however, in any situation, is to complete a budget. Before you can get assistance, you will need to complete a realistic budget of your current expenses, including every expense, even that morning coffee. Once you have the budget in place, you will be better able to understand your options. There are a wealth of services available to help with housing counseling and foreclosure prevention counseling. The key is to seek help before it gets too late. While you could still have options along they way, the available options become more expensive and difficult.

It is also important to understand your workout options and make sure that you are utilizing an option that will work for you. For example, a mortgage modification is a permanent change in your mortgage terms. You need to understand your budget and make sure that you will be able to live with the modification on a long term basis. You also have to decide if staying in your house makes sense, or whether you should evaluate other housing options and then try to get the most out of your home before the equity is completely eaten up with interest and fees.

In Ohio we are fortunate to have a program that will help you. More information can be found on our Save the Dream program at www.com.ohio.gov/SavetheDream. That provides a lot of information, including detailed instructions on how to work your way through each potential workout options. It also provides contacts for housing counselors and legal assistance.

In Franklin County, 8,929 foreclosures were filed in 2007, which is a 47% increase over the 6,072 foreclosures that were filed in 2003. If you are afraid that you might be joining that crowd, it is time to learn as much as you can and start communicating with your mortgage servicer so that you can prevent foreclosure. Ignoring this problem will only make you homeless, and with the wonderful resources available in Ohio, this can be done.

If you want legal assistance on this, please feel free to contact us at Price Law Firm - you can email me at mailto:Pam.Makowski@Pricelawohio.com or call at 614-224-2319.

Pamela Makowski
Price Law Firm

- Thoughtful, caring legal advice during life’s most trying times.

No one ever wants to actually say the word, because just saying “divorce” makes it seem so final. And yet, the divorce process is a complicated and often frustrating process that can lead to many things, ranging from total financial ruin to the re-establishment of a stronger marriage. However, this all depends on how you approach the divorce process.

Many people wait to come to a divorce lawyer after they are sure that they want a divorce. The fighting at home may have already escalated to an intolerable level, the children may be acting out, one or both of the partners may have already found another significant other, and things may have just deteriorated to the point where there is no recourse. So now it is time to see the lawyer. Unfortunately, as I look at people across the desk from me, they have worked through the whole thing in their minds and they are ready to move on. But I am just getting started. Of course, I am meeting the client for the first time, so I don’t know all of the financial or emotional details of the marriage, I don’t know everything that is going on with the children, and I need time, as does the court, to gather and process this information in order to work out the best possible arrangement for my client. On one hand, everything may be out on the table, and the divorce may be quite simple. More typically, however, some bond of trust has been broken that is so pervasive as to create trust issues in every aspect of the marriage, making it much more difficult to work out a quick settlement. Quick settlements can also be the result of not having all of the information. Unfortunately, once the settlement is done, it is hard to open it up again when new information is discovered.

So we have to ask ourselves when is the best time to consult with a lawyer. I think you should consult with a lawyer as soon as you reasonably consider divorce to be an option for you. Since your consultation with the lawyer is confidential, you only need to let your friends know that you are going to a lawyer to discuss some financial matter. When you consult with me, I will not disclose the subject of our discussion until you have made a decision to go forward. My role as your lawyer is to provide you with legal advice, not to push you in one direction or another. That job is better suited for others. Often, I have had clients come to me because they want to know what it involved in a divorce process or they want to know what their options are. On several occasions, once the client has had the information, he or she has gone back to talk to the spouse and the marriage has actually been improved. On one occasion, the couple learned that they both wanted financial decisions to be more mutual. The party handling the finances was feeling resentful while the party kept away from the finances was feeling isolated. On another occasion, the parties agreed to counseling to address some of the problems in the marriage, and they remained together for many years after the husband first came to see me. This does not mean that I have a magic wand that will save your marriage. It simply means that knowledge can be a very powerful tool in dealing with any problem, and understanding your legal rights is extremely powerful.

An early visit to a lawyer is also helpful when you have some concern about financial misconduct or mismanagement. While not all financial mismanagement in a marriage can result in a legal remedy, it is certain wise to bring this up with the attorney first. For example, don’t go to your spouse and say, “I know that you have been spending money on your girlfriend and I am on my way to the lawyer’s office now to make sure you pay.” If this behavior has already been going on, then we need to approach the issue quietly, review the documents, establish the behavior and then let the spouse know that he or she has been caught. In my experience, we have been able to do this and get results for the client, but I was also involved in a case where the other side had already consulted with a lawyer and was very careful to make sure that the expenditures on the paramour were not traceable.

Even if there is no acrimony in the relationship, and the two of you have simply decided that it is best to end the marriage now, I still recommend that you consult with a lawyer early in the process. People can be so frustrated when they tell me they have worked everything out and I should just put it in writing for them, because they often find that there are issues they have not addressed, and those issues impact the issues they thought they had solved. In this type of a case, I usually try to provide my client (I can only represent one of the parties) with a checklist so that the two of them can still work out most of it on their own. Since each divorce is as uniquie as each marriage, the checklist is tailored to the particular situation.

Unfortunately, divorces grow out of another family crisis, whether it is financial problems, disability or medical problems, criminal problems, or any of a number of situations. Sometimes, if we can address these other problems in a timely manner, we can save the marriage. Sometimes, we just need to address all of the problems so that everyone can move on. In cases where there is domestic violence or the possibility of harm to children, swift legal recourse is necessary. That is why it is important to try to seek legal counsel before the problems have escalated, to avoid creating even more problems just based on the delay in seeking help.

At Price Law Firm, we are a small group of experienced attorneys who can provide you with legal assistance in all of these areas. Because of our smaller size, we are able to do so in a thoughtful and caring manner. If you decide that it is time to have a private, confidential consultation with a lawyer, give us a call.

Price Law Firm - Thoughtful, caring legal advice during life’s most trying times.