By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman As of Sept. 1, New York has abolished its old easy single-sheet statutory power of attorney form (POA) and replaced it with a tremendously complicated new law1 describing a highly complex new document with a misleadingly named optional rider.2 The 1948 original form and its successors were designed Full Article…
Split Between Departments Muddies Subrogation Doctrine, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman In an era when this nation’s economic stability depends, in part, on stable and unfettered real estate transfers, equitable subrogation provides a solution to some of the cracks in the system. However, as evidenced by a split between two departments of the Appellate Division, these cracks need some Full Article…
HETPA Contains Land Mines For Unwary Attorneys, Buyers, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman In February of 2007 the Home Equity Theft Prevention Act (HETPA) passed the New York State Legislature, attempting to stop scam artists from stealing or tapping the equity of victims’ homes. HETPA had two principal areas of concern: the substance of transactions involving persons in distressed circumstances selling Full Article…
The New Rules of Foreclosure Litigation, New York Law Journal
The New Rules of Foreclosure Litigation By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Since the first loans and mortgages changed hands with cloaks and stone in Israel[1] and Greece[2] thousands of years ago[3], never previously had mortgages caused a worldwide economic collapse of financial markets. Unfortunately, as the federal and state government as well as Full Article…
Moving Beyond the Mistakes of MERS to Secure a Profitable National Title System, ABA Probate & Property
by Adam Leitman Bailey, Dov Treiman Adam Leitman Bailey is the principal of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., in New York, New York. Dov Treiman is a partner in the New York, New York, office of Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus is called on to sail his crew through the Straits of Messina, Full Article…
Growing Fraud: Self-Help Measures Can Head Off Problems, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Carly Greenberg Today’s bank robbers rarely use a mask and gun. The crimes are usually completed at a real estate transaction’s closing table. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, lenders incurred more than $1 billion in mortgage losses in 2005 as a result of fraud.1 During this same time Full Article…
The Race to Erase Recording Mistakes, New York Law Journal
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Jackie Halpern Weinstein To protect the integrity of this nation’s property transfer system, the robo-signing controversy must result in a better system of transferring property and loans. Beneath this public debacle exists another old timer in the world of recording: property transfer mistakes. Improper, mistaken, or wrongly executed and indexed Full Article…
Cooperative Foreclosure: The Accidental Doctrine
By Adam Leitman Bailey and Dov Treiman Although the lack of judicial supervision of the cooperative foreclosure process for default upon cooperative apartment mortgages vastly simplifies the lives of lenders’ counsel, under the latest changes in the foreclosure statutes, it creates a nightmare for the title industry insuring titles down the line from such a Full Article…