Mortgages: deeds of trust: successors in interest.

Existing state law regulates reverse mortgages and defines a reverse mortgage to mean a nonrecourse loan secured by real property if the loan provides cash advances to a borrower based on the equity or the value in a borrower's owner-occupied principal residence, the loan requires no payment of principal or interest until the entire loan becomes due and payable, and the loan is made by a specified licensed or chartered lender. Existing law prohibits a mortgage servicer, upon notification that a borrower has died by a person claiming to be a successor in interest, from recording a notice of default until the mortgage servicer gives an opportunity for the claimant to show that he or she is a successor in interest, as specified. Existing law requires a mortgage servicer, within 10 days of a claimant being deemed a successor in interest, to provide the successor in interest with information about the loan, as specified. Existing law also requires a mortgage servicer to allow a successor in interest to assume the deceased borrower's loan or to apply for foreclosure prevention alternatives on an assumable loan, as specified. Existing law provides other protections for these successors in interest and deems a mortgage servicer, mortgagee, or beneficiary of the deed of trust, or an agent thereof, to be in compliance with the above-described provisions if they comply with specified federal laws. Existing law makes these provisions inoperative on January 1, 2020. This bill would make those provisions inapplicable to reverse mortgages, as defined, and would delete certain obsolete references.