On Monday, December 19th, Charles Canady, the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court signed administrative order AOSC11-44 which put an end to the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation (RMFM) program. The RMFM program was established in late 2009 and referred all mortgage foreclosure actions on residential homestead properties to a court supervised mediation process with the goal of resolving mortgage foreclosures before judicial disposition of foreclosure cases
The Court does not give specific reasons for ending the RMFM program but states in administrative order AOSC11-44 "the Court has reviewed the reports on on the program and determined it cannot justify continuation of the program." As of the date of the Order, December 19, 2011, "no new cases may be referred to mediation pursuant to the statewide managed mediation program."
Those cases that are already referred to the RMFM program or are pending in a mediation program as of the date of the order will remain in the program and will continue until the mediation process is completed. Immediately ending the RMFM program seems to be the easy way out for the courts. Instead of tweaking the program to make it more effective and meet its goal of helping to dispose of cases that benefits both banks and struggling homeowners the Court has just decided to end the program entirely.
If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Defense Lawyer today to determine what foreclosure defense options may be available to you.
To read the full text of Florida Supreme Court Administrative Order AOSC11-44 click here.
