The Florida legislature recently amended its laws regarding bankruptcy matters in foreclosure proceedings, effective October 1, 2018.  The Florida Office of Financial Regulation recently amended its rules to allow military personnel, veterans, and spouses to receive reimbursement for application, renewal and reactivation fees for a loan origination license, effective September 25, 2018.  The Oklahoma legislature recently amended its laws related to title insurance, effective November 1, 2018.  The Wisconsin legislature recently amended its laws governing eligible bidders at foreclosure sale, effective November 1, 2018.

FLORIDA SENATE BILL 220

A lienholder, in an action to foreclose a mortgage, may submit any document the defendant filed under penalty of perjury in the defendant’s bankruptcy case for use as an admission by the defendant.

A rebuttable presumption that the defendant has waived any defense to the foreclosure is created if a lienholder submits documents filed in the defendant’s bankruptcy case which:

• Evidence the defendant’s intention to surrender to the lienholder the property that is the subject of the foreclosure;
• Have not been withdrawn by the defendant; and
• Show that a final order has been entered in the defendant’s bankruptcy case which discharges the defendant’s debts or confirms the defendant’s repayment plan that provides for the surrender of the property.

A court must take judicial notice of an order entered in a bankruptcy case upon the request of a lienholder.

This does not preclude the defendant in a foreclosure action from raising a defense based upon the lienholder’s action or inaction subsequent to the filing of the document filed in the bankruptcy case which evidenced the defendant’s intention to surrender the mortgaged property to the lienholder.

These provisions apply to any foreclosure action filed on or after October 1, 2018.

FLORIDA RULES 69V-40.0312 AND 40.0313

Persons wishing to obtain reimbursement must submit to the Office of Financial Regulation, via electronic filing through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System and Registry, a completed Office of Financial Regulation Active Military Member/Veteran/Spouse Fee Waiver and Military Service Verification, Form OFR-MIL-001, effective 09-2018, and available at http://www.flrules.org/Gateway/reference.asp?No=Ref-09912. Such form must be submitted within one hundred eighty (180) days after payment of licensure fees. For the complete processing of Form OFR-MIL-001, a loan originator application must be deemed received as provided by Florida law.

OKLAHOMA HOUSE BILL 2941

Every title insurance producer, title insurer or person who conducts a real estate closing that presents, for filing in the office of the county clerk, an instrument of conveyance or vesting title in connection with a transaction in which an owner’s policy of title insurance is to be issued by a title insurance producer or title insurer that is based upon such instrument must place a legend within the instrument that sets forth the following:

Deed presented for filing by:  [Name of title insurance producer, title insurer or person conducting closing]

File Number:  [File number of title insurance producer, title insurer or person conducting closing]

[Name of Title Insurer designated in the Commitment for Title Insurance]

WISCONSIN ASSEMBLY BILL 691

“Third-party bidder” means a person that intends to submit a bid at a sale of mortgaged premises and that is not any of the following:

• A party in the foreclosure action;
• An agent of a party in the foreclosure action; or
• An assignee of the plaintiff in the foreclosure action.

No third-party bidder may submit a bid at a sale of mortgaged premises unless the third-party bidder meets all of the following qualifications:

• The third-party bidder does not own an interest in property in Wisconsin against which taxes have been levied and are more than 120 days delinquent;
• The third-party bidder is not directly or indirectly owned, managed, or controlled, in whole or in part, by a person that owns an interest in property in Wisconsin against which taxes have been levied that are more than 120 days delinquent;
• The third-party bidder does not directly or indirectly own, manage, or control, in whole or in part, an entity that owns an interest in property in Wisconsin against which taxes have been levied that are more than 120 days delinquent;
• No judgment against the third-party bidder related to a violation of a state or local building code with respect to property in Wisconsin has been rendered that is unsatisfied;
• No judgment against a person that directly or indirectly owns, manages, or controls, in whole or in part, the third-party bidder related to a violation of a state or local building code with respect to property in Wisconsin has been rendered that is unsatisfied; or
• In submitting a bid at the sale, the third-party bidder is not acting on behalf of or as part of an agreement with a person that does not meet the qualifications described above.

The amendments also provide that the sheriff or referee may require a third-party bidder to confirm that they meet all the qualifications and will not assign the bid to a person that would not have met the qualifications.  The third-party bidder may also be required to submit an affidavit stating that they meet the minimum bidder qualifications.

The sheriff or referee must post an explanation regarding the minimum bidder qualifications in any public place or on any Internet site where he or she posts a notice of sale.