One of the most frustrating parts of representing homeowners in foreclosure is the lack of respect for simple due process. Due process is a very old concept meaning that people are entitled to notice and an opportunity to be heard (by the court) before action is taken against them.
Generally, due process is why we have trials for clearly guilty and repugnant people. I recall a professor at Indiana State University who, with a cohort, picked up a hitchhiker, a young man from Terre Haute. They hung him from a hook in a deserted barn. They brutally raped and killed him, videotaping the entire thing. The professor was found not guilty because the tape was obtained improperly and was excluded from evidence.
After that, the professor returned to work. My school could not fire him because it was a state institution. He would have been entitled to due process before he could be fired.
I think my clients, people who try to buy homes, are at least as nice as a raping, video-taping, murdering college professor. Unfortunately, they are deprived of their homes in some cases without any due process of law.
The attached story is the worst case I have ever seen. My client and her children returned from school and work to find their home boarded up. Their possessions were stolen and ruined as the interior of the house was destroyed (even though banks say they take these actions to "preserve" property). They were not served with a summons, there was no court order, there was no hearing, and they were entirely deprived of any right to say they lived in their home, defend their foreclosure, or do anything else on their own behalf. They could not even pack and leave in an orderly manner--even people who are evicted through the legal process are given time to get out.
When we got back in, several months later, there was peanut butter and jelly on the table. Clearly, the home was occupied by kids who packed sandwiches for school lunch, expecting to come home. Instead, they never got to come back to their home.
After a judge ordered the bank to give the home back, they came and boarded it up a second time.
If you face foreclosure, remember that no one except a judge can order you to leave. This is done through a written court order. It must be directed at you, not someone else who lives in the house, "unknown persons," or "occupants." Only the Cook County Sheriff can do evictions in Chicago--evictions here are not done by random street thugs.
Contact the police immediately if someone tries to interfere with your right to possession. Seek a lawyer to advise you of your rights.
Read more at:
http://gapersblock.com/mechanics/2011/04/04/not-a-wonderful-life-the-effects-of-aggressive-foreclosure/
