MEDIATION EXPANDS STATEWIDE
Foreclosure filings in New Jersey during the past 12 months are up 46 percent over the previous 12 months, and this has spurred the NJ Supreme Court to expand an experimental Middlesex mediation program statewide. Under the program, the courts will compel mediation between homeowner and mortgage holder any time the owner contests foreclosure of the residence. The goal is to renegotiate terms and keep owners in their house. The courts will encourage non-contesting homeowners to change their mind, right up to the date of the sheriff’s sale. As in Middlesex County, the mediators will be volunteers. The program will begin in the highest foreclosure vicinages – Essex, Union, Camden, Bergen and Hudson – within the next 30 days and expand to all 21 counties 30 days later.
