Palm Beach County has been hit hard by the foreclosure crisis. When banks bring a Florida homeowner to court to foreclose on their home, the bank is required to prove that they own the mortgage. However, sometimes the bank is unable to do so and has to dismiss the foreclosure case for failure to produce the required documents.

In 2008 a Palm Beach County homeowner hired legal counsel to defend against a foreclosure. The main point of the case was that the foreclosing bank appeared to have been using falsified documents as a basis for the action. When the homeowner questioned the validity of the documents offered by the bank, the bank dismissed the action, but the homeowner's lawyer continued to press the case. The bank and the homeowner later settled the case.

Lawyers for the homeowner asked the court to force the bank to explain the fraudulent documents. While a Florida appeals court sided with the bank and dismissed the case, it also asked the Florida Supreme Court to decide take the issue. This case will be heard this session.

The total number of Florida foreclosure cases currently in the court system within the state surpasses 370,000. Over the past year, more than 104,000 foreclosure cases have been dismissed from Florida courts, though it is not certain how many of those dismissals were due to the bank not having the appropriate paperwork to proceed. Homeowners facing foreclosure will be waiting hopefully for the decision by the court, and those facing similar circumstances can benefit from seeking advice as to their rights and responsibilities.

Source: Palm Beach Post News, "Florida Supreme Court will rule on Palm Beach County foreclosure case involving allegedly fraudulent bank documents," Kimberly Miller, Dec. 8, 2011