DELAWARE - Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program

§ 5062C

YOUR LENDER HAS FILED A FORECLOSURE ACTION AGAINST YOUR PROPERTY. YOU ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE IN MEDIATION. CALL THE DELAWARE ATTORNEY GENERAL’S FORECLOSURE HOTLINE AT 1-800-220-5424 NOW OR FIND A HOUSING COUNSELOR ON THE INCLUDED LIST TO START THE MEDIATION PROCESS.”;

(e) (1) A defendant shall meet with a HUD-approved housing counselor and file a Certificate of Participation no more than 30 days from the date the notice of foreclosure mediation was served on the defendant. The Certificate of Participation shall be filed with the Superior Court or its delegatee and the defendant shall send copies to the mediator and to the plaintiff or, if the plaintiff is represented by counsel, to the mediator and to the plaintiff’s counsel, who will promptly forward the Certificate of Participation on to the plaintiff. If a defendant has checked “NO” with respect to any of the statements required to be included in the Certificate of Participation under paragraph (c)(2)d.2. of this section, above, the mediation conference will be canceled, but this shall not prevent the defendant from requesting that the mediation conference be reinstated at a later date prior to the entry of judgment.

(2) The failure of a defendant to file a Certificate of Participation will not excuse the plaintiff from attending the mediation conference and engaging in mediation in good faith, but the mediator may take the defendant’s failure into consideration when making recommendations.

(3) Upon receipt of a duly completed Certificate of Participation from the defendant, the plaintiff shall owe a mediation fee to the Superior Court or its delegatee in the amount set by the Superior Court pursuant to subsection (q) of this section. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, if the mediation conference has been cancelled as a result of the defendant checking “NO” on the Certificate of Participation under paragraph (e)(1) of this section above, no mediation fee will be required. The mediation fee required, whether under this section or paragraph (i)(8) of this section below, shall be due and must be paid by plaintiff within 30 days after the eFiling of a completed Certificate of Participation, and shall be in addition to any other filing fees required by law. The Superior Court or its delegatee may in its discretion reschedule any scheduled mediation conference where the mediation fee is overdue pursuant to this paragraph until such time as the mediation fee has been paid.

(f) At least 14 days prior to the date of the mediation conference, the defendant shall provide a completed financial proposal worksheet to the plaintiff, to the mediator, and to such other entities as the Court may require. The Superior Court or its delegatee may prescribe the form of such financial proposal worksheet and any accompanying materials that must be provided by the defendant. The failure of a defendant to provide a complete financial proposal worksheet to the plaintiff will not excuse the plaintiff from attending the mediation conference and engaging in mediation in good faith, but the mediator may take such failure into consideration when making recommendations and may inform the defendant that the failure to provide a complete financial proposal worksheet and accompanying materials, if required, may affect the plaintiff’s ability to enter into a loss mitigation agreement or other resolution of the foreclosure.

(g) At least 7 days prior to the date of the mediation conference or such other date as agreed to by the mediator, the plaintiff shall provide the defendant and its housing counselor, if known, a checklist of documents that the plaintiff requires that the defendant bring to the mediation conference, including whether updated versions of existing documents need to be provided. Each party shall also make itself available at least 3 days prior to the date of the mediation conference to discuss the list of documents. The Superior Court or its delegatee may prescribe a form of checklist to be used under this paragraph. If the plaintiff requests at the mediation conference additional documents from the defendant that were not included on the checklist, the mediator may take any failure of the plaintiff to provide a complete checklist into consideration when making recommendations. If the defendant fails to bring the documents required by the plaintiff to the mediation conference and such documents were requested timely under this subsection, the mediator may take into consideration the defendant’s failure to provide the documents when making recommendations and may inform the defendant that such failure may affect the plaintiff’s ability to enter into a loss mitigation agreement or other resolution of the foreclosure.

(h) The Superior Court or its delegatee may set forth procedures for the provision of information and statements by the parties in mediation, including the use of preliminary position statements. However, the failure of a party to provide a preliminary position statement will not excuse any party from attending the mediation conference and engaging in mediation in good faith, but such failure may be taken into consideration by the mediator in assessing whether the party failing to provide the position statement is engaging in mediation in good faith.

https://delcode.delaware.gov/title10/c049/sc11/index.shtml

78 Del. Laws, c. 200, § 1;70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1;78 Del. Laws, c. 295, § 1;79 Del. Laws, c. 27, §§ 4-8;82 Del. Laws, c. 30, § 5.;