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The state of New Jersey is trying a new and innovative approach to help streamline the foreclosure process and clear its backlog of cases. The state's court system is testing an electronic filing system for foreclosure actions.
[IMAGE]Emmanuel Argentieri, an attorney with the New Jersey-based law firm of ""Parker McCay"":http://www.parkermccay.com explained to DSNews.com that it typically takes anywhere from three to four weeks to get a complaint back from the New Jersey courts once it's been filed, and to have a final judgment entered on a foreclosure action, the timeline is seven to eight months.
New Jersey is a quasi-judicial state, meaning foreclosures are processed through a dedicated foreclosure unit of the court.
""With the proliferation of foreclosure actions across the country, and in New Jersey particularly, the [court's] foreclosure unit was unable to keep up with the demands of
[COLUMN_BREAK]the practice. We have experienced significant delays,"" said Argentieri, who is shareholder and chairperson of the financial services department at Parker McCay.
Argentieri's firm received a notice in January from New Jersey's civil practice division that beginning July 1st, Parker McCay would be participating in an e-filing pilot for foreclosure actions.
This pilot participation notice was sent to the top 10 firms in the state with the largest number of foreclosure filings in 2009. Argentieri says Parker McCay filed approximately 5,500 foreclosure actions last year.
The firm has synchronized their software to accommodate the court's e-filing procedures and participated in training sessions to prepare for the July 1 launch.
As the e-filer, Argentieri says he'll be entering all the case data and docket information into the system for the court, eliminating the three to four week lag time at the front-end of the process he mentioned earlier.
According to Argentieri, the hope is that by moving to an electronic filing system and having foreclosure firms populate or input most of the data themselves, it will free up the court's personnel to process back-end aspects of the foreclosure process much quicker.
He says the New Jersey court's foreclosure unit has committed to hiring 14 to 15 more staff members by the end of this year, which should also speed up the prosecution of foreclosure actions. The court says the added staff will reduce the seven to eight month timeframe for a final judgment down to just two weeks.
