Attorney Never Filed Closing Documents

[J. T. Ford]

Hi All,

Here's a little story for you....

We purchased a property and resold using Owner Financing and used an attorney for the closing. We and the buyer completed and returned all paperwork to complete the transaction and received the "All Clear" from the attorney that the transaction was completed and filed with the county.

We then requested copies of all docs for our records and received only our recorded Finance Agreement and a printout (settlement) of the services and fees for services... No HUD Settlement, Statement of Value or Deed. We then clariied that we need all OFFICIAL documents and then received no response.

Fast forward 6 months and we are now selling our now-seasoned note and need all documents to proceed with the transaction, so we send a "High Priority" email to request copies of this again... No response for 2 days, which is now Friday going into a Holiday weekend. We start calling and have to leave messages with the gatekeeper (receptionist... lovely lady :) ) because his vmail is full and can't leave a message there. After a few calls being a pest (the squeaky wheel gets the oil) I finally receive a call back from the attorney @4:30 PM (remember, this is Friday going into a holiday weekend) and he tells me that he and his staff are out of office right now (well, of course you are, but you weren't the many other times I tried to reach you -.-) and will not be back until Tuesday where he will make this first priority!    Ok, fine... Have a great holiday weekend :)

4:30 PM Tuesday comes and still no contact from attorney or their office... Start calling and getting the same issue with no responses. Finally after reaching out to every contact I have available for them I receive a call back to tell me they do not have any records of this transaction besides the Owner Finance agreement. WHAT?!

We have email trails showing that we and the buyer complied with all paperwork prior to turning the key over AFTER we received the "Go Ahead" from the attorney. 

Now we do not have the documentation to facilitate the sale of the note to the new buyer and we may lose a significant amount of revenue because of this... 

What are my options going forward due to the neglect of the attorney?

Thanks in advance!

J.T.

[Greg H.]

Documents such as the Deed and Deed of Trust/Mortgage are recorded documents. Have you checked with the county to see if they were recorded?