Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md., has signed a new law establishing that the power of sale is valid in existing and future deeds of trust originally granted to a corporate trustee.
According to a statement from The Fisher Law Group PLLC – whose principal, Jeffrey Fisher, lobbied for the law change – courts in several Maryland counties have been ruling that there is no valid power of sale in a deed of trust originally granted to a corporate trustee and that this defect cannot be cured by substituting a natural person as trustee.
The law does require that the power of sale be exercised only by a natural person. It also preserves the deed of trust when, by inadvertence, no trustee is named in the deed of trust. The law becomes effective June 1.
In collaboration with Jacob Geesing, of Bierman, Geesing, Ward & Wood LLC, Fisher prepared an original draft bill and obtained a sponsor in the Maryland House of Delegates. Thereafter, a coalition including the foreclosure bar, the Maryland Land Title Association and the Maryland Bankers Association provided continuing support for the passage of the bill.
"While we did not feel the judges were correct, it was a very technical issue," Fisher says. "However, we thought we had established credibility with the legislature and could quickly resolve the matter legislatively."
SOURCE: The Fisher Law Group