Page 45 - ForeclosurePreventionGuide_Final _Neat

RIGHTS UNDER FFA: A DECEASED BORROWER’S HEIRS

Heir Heir’s Right to Loan Information

What? What?
• A person (or persons) who gains a legal interest • An heir’s right to loan details and lender contact
in a property from the borrower. information.

When? When?
• After the borrower dies. • After the heir notifies the trustee in writing of
the borrower’s death and then provides
How? documentation of both the borrower’s death
• When the heir takes an interest in the property and the heir’s ownership interest.
because the borrower granted that interest in
their will, or because state law provides that heir How?
with an interest in the property. • In three steps: (1) First, if the heir notifies the
mortgage servicer or trustee of the borrower’s
death, the servicer or trustee must provide
Heir’s Right to Notice of Default and acknowledgment in writing; (2) Second, the
servicer or trustee must then request
Notice of Trustee’s Sale
documentation of the borrower’s death,

allowing 30 days for documentation to be
What?
provided; (3) Third, if such documentation is
• Both a Notice of Default and a Notice of provided, then the servicer or trustee must
Trustee’s Sale must be sent to any known allow 60 days for the heir to provide proof of
spouse, child, or parent of the deceased their ownership interest in the property. If the
borrower. The Notice of Default must also be heir provides the proof on the timeline above,
sent to the property owner of record. then the servicer and trustee must consider the
• heir to be a “successor in interest” entitled
When?
within 20 days to receive loan details and
After the trustee learns of the borrower’s information about the loan modification
death, either because the lender told the process. Loan details include the loan balance,
trustee, or because an heir notified the interest rate, the basis for default,
trustee. reinstatement and payoff amounts, and the
payment address.
How?

• If the trustee learns of the borrower’s death, it
must search county records for addresses of
heirs, and notify the heirs of the Notice of
Default and Notice of Trustee’s Sale. The
trustee must also send Notice of Default and
Notice of Trustee’s Sale to the heir if that heir
provided their address to the trustee.

January 2020 | Page 45