Florida Senate - 2017                                     SB 660
       
       
        
       By Senator Passidomo
       
       28-00637-17                                            2017660__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to foreclosure proceedings; creating
    3         s. 702.12, F.S.; authorizing a lienholder to submit
    4         specified documents in a foreclosure proceeding as
    5         evidence of an admission by a defendant; authorizing
    6         the lienholder to request that the court take judicial
    7         notice of a final order entered in a bankruptcy case;
    8         providing that the submission of certain documents
    9         creates specified rebuttable presumptions under
   10         certain circumstances; specifying that certain
   11         defenses are not precluded by this act; providing an
   12         effective date.
   13          
   14  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   15  
   16         Section 1. Section 702.12, Florida Statutes, is created to
   17  read:
   18         702.12 Evidence concerning foreclosure proceedings.—
   19         (1) A lienholder in an action to foreclose its mortgage may
   20  use as an admission by the defendant in the foreclosure
   21  proceeding any document that the defendant filed under penalty
   22  of perjury in a bankruptcy proceeding. In addition to the
   23  matters identified in s. 90.202, the lienholder may also request
   24  that the court take judicial notice of any final order entered
   25  in the bankruptcy proceeding.
   26         (2) The lienholder’s submission in such foreclosure
   27  proceeding of any document that the defendant filed in the
   28  bankruptcy proceeding which evidences an intention to surrender
   29  to the lienholder the property that is the subject of the
   30  foreclosure proceeding and which document has not been withdrawn
   31  by the defendant, together with a final order entered in the
   32  bankruptcy proceeding either discharging the defendant’s debts
   33  or confirming the defendant’s repayment plan in which such
   34  intention is contained, creates a rebuttable presumption that
   35  the defendant has:
   36         (a) Surrendered to the lienholder the defendant’s interest
   37  in the mortgaged property that is the subject of such
   38  foreclosure proceeding; and
   39         (b) Has waived any defenses to the foreclosure of the
   40  mortgage or lien that is the subject of the foreclosure
   41  proceeding and which was the subject of the document filed in
   42  the bankruptcy proceeding evidencing the defendant’s intention
   43  to surrender the mortgaged property to the lienholder.
   44         (3) This section does not preclude a defendant in a
   45  foreclosure proceeding from raising a defense based upon the
   46  lienholder’s conduct subsequent to the filing of the document in
   47  the bankruptcy proceeding which evidenced the defendant’s
   48  intention to surrender the mortgaged property to the lienholder.
   49         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2017.