Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Jun 30, 2010 by Nicholas Sohr

Maryland’s foreclosure mediation law takes effect Thursday with teams of court staffers, reams of new forms and hearing rooms in courthouses across the state dedicated to connecting struggling homeowners and the banks that lent them money.

But those who work closest with foreclosures are split on what impact the new law and the massive effort to implement it will have on Marylanders facing foreclosure.

Some say the mediation law will force open lines of communication between lenders and borrowers, leading to more successful resolutions. Others predict the new requirements will make foreclosures more time-consuming and more expensive while doing little to keep people in their homes.

And some didn’t wait to find out.

The uncertainty of the new law — combined with its $300 filing fee and additional $30 filing fee for all civil matters in circuit court also enacted Thursday — made Wednesday an unofficial deadline for getting cases into the court system.

Many circuit court clerks’ offices saw an uptick of foreclosure filings in June. In Baltimore City, more than 800 foreclosures had been filed as of Tuesday morning, or slightly less than half the number of all foreclosures filed in the last three months. About 1,350 foreclosures were filed between April and June of last year by comparison, according to Court Clerk Frank M
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