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This is my rant, because Angie is not currently in the state of anger that I am in right now. She is upset. I am FURIOUS. It's that cold kind of fury, like my insides are just gone.

Most people know that Angie S (Zydana, on boards), has been trying to keep her home for the last six months or so. It was foreclosed on in September, but she had until the 5th before she would officially be evicted (and even then, they have an eviction period). She was hoping she would have a better job by now than the one she has. She had the day off today so she went home to pack things up and found that her house had been gutted already by the bank (after telling the bank in January that she hadn't abandoned it yet).

According the neighbors, they came last week and most of her belongings went into the dumpster. Over 15 years of things gone, including her PC which has all the photos of her deceased grandmother, crafts and commissioned art items, her daughter's crafts, her daughter's baby-things, her crafting supplies and fabric, her daughter's toys, her daughter's books, her daughter's piggy-bank, her gaming books, her LARP gear (Whatever wasn't in her car), her toys, her collectibles, her gifts and old video games and systems. All her furniture, her clothes, her daughter's clothes, her cooking items, even the curtains. Her appliances. All of it, gone.

No call. No mail. No warning.

She did contact the dumpers and found out the "garbaged" items have already been landfilled and therefore irretrievable, but they have offered to call her back so she can find out exactly what day they showed up at the dump.

She got a police-report to state that her home was emptied and contacted the bank's lawyer (Who wasn't able to say anything other than, yes, she should have had until the 5th, at least). She is going to contact the ACLU and Legal Aid tomorrow, but we can't really do anything else today, since most places are closed by now. It sounds like she has a paper trail, so I'm hoping that at least she has some recourse financially.

It was illegal and I pray that this gets resolved for her at least monetarily and they don't get away with throwing away her LIFE. But that doesn't replace any of the irreplaceable things that are now gone forever. As it stands now, she has to start ALL OVER on her already minimal income. Over ten years of things, just gone.

Any suggestions of further things to do would be greatly appreciated, as would any moral support.

My apologies for the rough format of this post. I am absolutely incredulous that they can even do this, I think my jaw is on the floor.

im not going to say how shity that is as words cant describe but i learned this, if the are reposesing your home tell them to produce the note, they have to get THE ORIGINAL ownership note, or something like that, most banks dont have the original, and over %50 of people get at least 6 extra months to figure stuff out, again i cant fathom how horrible that is.

HOLY CRAP.

KILL!

Details are key. Also, banks are not governmental institutions even though they may try to act like one (especially when they are in the wrong). Though, I doubt they'll strong arm her much in this economy.

Be meticulous on when things happened.
Have proof.
Find all the documents sent to her by the bank confirming dates and such.
Get full names when talking to people.
Write dates and times down of everything you do/did or they do/did.
If she has pictures elsewhere of the insides of the house, great, also write down everything that was in the house. This helps in determining value.
Avoid words like "deceased grandmother" when describing things (unless she plans to sue for emotional distress and even then have a seperate list with this stuff).
Keep a level head when talking to people. Don't plead, cry, or get angry, as none of this helps solve anything. If you are unsure of something or don't understand, ask for time to think or for a different way of explaning it.

All in all, if the lawyer said she should have had until the 5th, then she should be ok.

Well seeing that I am currently in Real Estate Law class I can suggest a couple things:

**NONE OF THIS IS ACTUALLY MEANT TO BE LEGAL COUNSEL OR ADVICE. THIS IS ONLY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW TO APPROACH IT. I AM NOT TO BE HELD LIABLE IF ANYTHING I SAY IS INCORRECT**...I say this because I legally have to because I am not an actual lawyer I cannot give actual legal advice or aid, but suggestions I can do.

GET the document proving you had until the 5th, or have the lawyer you talked to who said the 5th sign a agreement proving that is what he said, you can just have him swear to testify he said that but it is much safer to get it in writing.

By the sounds of the original post it sounds like you were not living at home? Were you living or staying the nights somewhere else and for how long. Many banks will have a set number of days that if you are not using that place as your primary domain then they can declare and abandonment. Either talk to this lawyer and find out what the bank had as the time requirement. If you were not living there for that long then you might be in trouble, however if you were not gone for that long, or if when the bank came to inspect the hose you were at work and they thought you left, get something to prove them otherwise. Neighbor's testimony, a statement from a utilities company showing the normal usage of power/water/other for that day to prove it was being used. Also anything and everything you have that proves you were in the house.

HOWEVER the biggest thing I, as one somewhat educated in the legal system is get a lawyer NOW! Do not bother calling the ACLU, yes this is terrible but you need to find out if they were at fault first. If it is true you had a legal right to stay there until the 5th and you were legally not determined to be abandoning the premises then you should call the ACLU and see if you can get a lawyer from then because they will most likely be a lot better in helping your case.

So what you need to do is this: HIRE A LAWYER NOW! They will get things done through the system and let them do the investigating but make sure to bring all the proof you can find to them to help start the case. This will likely be a civil suit with counts of probable emotional distress, destruction of private property, and breach of foreclosure contract. And this isn't even what criminal action can be taken, make sure when you speak to lawyer, make sure it is a real estate or a contract lawyer, and ask them to seek both criminal action and civil because you can get both.

Good luck with this and I hope I helped.[/b]

An example to show that you were still using the premises is that your belongings were up kept and not abandoned. A statement by the dumpers on the state of your house when they threw stuff away can show this.


Good luck...

How incredibly awful.

Is there anything we do to help out in a material sense? Clothing? Food? Blankets and toiletries? I know we can't do anything to replace the irreplaceable, but we can all help out with the little stuff. If we need to, we can take donations at the first event if someone can get the items to her.

Please keep us all posted on the proceedings.

I've known lots of people who have gone through similar misfortune, and unfortunately, it is next to impossible to make the people responsible pay. However, that kind of thing can be reported as a casualty loss on an annual federal tax return. The details are complicated, but with recent tax law changes, there may just be something the IRS could do for her along the lines of a tax break, especially if she is/was a home owner. I'll look into it for you. Hit me back up by private message, or talk to me at the next event, or both.

If she would like to, she can speak with me at the next event. I plan to be there.

This is exactly the reason people go on shooting rampages.