Florida Senate - 2017                              CS for SB 660
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Banking and Insurance; and Senator Passidomo
       
       
       
       
       
       597-02142-17                                           2017660c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to bankruptcy matters in foreclosure
    3         proceedings; creating s. 702.12, F.S.; authorizing
    4         lienholders to use certain documents as an admission
    5         in an action to foreclose a mortgage; providing that
    6         submission of certain documents in a foreclosure
    7         action creates a rebuttable presumption; authorizing
    8         lienholders to make a request for judicial notice of
    9         final orders entered in bankruptcy cases; providing
   10         construction; providing applicability; providing an
   11         effective date.
   12          
   13  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   14  
   15         Section 1. Section 702.12, Florida Statutes, is created to
   16  read:
   17         702.12 Actions in foreclosure.—
   18         (1)(a) A lienholder, in an action to foreclose a mortgage,
   19  may submit any document the defendant filed in the defendant’s
   20  bankruptcy case under penalty of perjury for use as an admission
   21  by the defendant.
   22         (b) The lienholder’s entry of a document the defendant
   23  filed in the defendant’s bankruptcy case which evidences
   24  intention to surrender to the lienholder the property that is
   25  the subject of the foreclosure, which document has not been
   26  withdrawn by the defendant, together with the submission of a
   27  final order entered in the bankruptcy case which discharges the
   28  defendant’s debts or confirms the defendant’s repayment plan
   29  which intention is contained therein, creates a rebuttable
   30  presumption that the defendant has waived any defenses to the
   31  foreclosure.
   32         (2) In addition to a request set forth in s. 90.203, the
   33  lienholder may request that the court take judicial notice of
   34  any final order entered in a bankruptcy case.
   35         (3) This section does not preclude the defendant in a
   36  foreclosure action from raising a defense based upon the
   37  lienholder’s action or inaction subsequent to the filing of the
   38  document filed in the bankruptcy case which evidenced the
   39  defendant’s intention to surrender the mortgaged property to the
   40  lienholder.
   41         (4) This section applies to any foreclosure action filed on
   42  or after October 1, 2017.
   43         Section 2. This act shall take effect October 1, 2017.