Thordsen Law Offices

08/06/2021

WEST HOLLYWOOD MAN SENTENCED TO OVER 12 YEARS IN PRISON FOR REAL ESTATE FRAUD SCHEME THAT VICTIMIZED MORE THAN 2,000 HOMEOWNERS
FACTS
On August 2,2021 PATRICK JOSEPH SORIA, 35, of West Hollywood was sentenced to 152 months in federal prison for orchestrating a real estate fraud scheme that victimized more than 2,000 homeowners, involved fraudulent filings that affected the title to properties across the country and caused more than $7 million in losses.
From January 2015 to June 2018, Soria stole money from homeowners and would-be home buyers through a two-pronged scheme.
Firstly, Soria hijacked title to properties through fraudulent title filings done at county recorders’ offices around the country. He faked the filings to make it appear that he owned the properties, and then “sold” the properties to victims who thought they were buying the homes from the true owner. Soria never owned the homes, and instead used the victims’ “purchase” money for personal expenses.
In the second part of the scheme, Soria convinced homeowners he could help them with their mortgages, either by assisting them with a loan modification or by taking over their mortgage from their lender, with the promised result, either way, of reducing their mortgage payments.
After gaining the victims’ trust, Soria convinced homeowners to stop paying their real lender and to start paying him. Soria deceived his victims into believing he had taken over their mortgages. He lulled victims into doing nothing to protect themselves when they started receiving foreclosure and eviction notices. Many of the homeowners lost their homes.
As part of the fraud, Soria used company names such as HBSC US and Deutsche Mellon National Asset LLC, designed to trick homeowners into thinking these companies were real. He took advantage of the complex mix of lenders, trustees, beneficiaries, and servicers in the mortgage market, and the assignments of mortgage loans between entities, to confuse homeowners and make it seem as if he did own the properties and mortgages.
More than 2,000 individuals were victimized. Soria admitted that losses totaled more than $7.6 million.
The targeted properties were located nationwide, including in Texas, New York, Nevada, and in the California cities of Vernon, Beverly Hills, Santa Ana, Yorba Linda, Anaheim and elsewhere. (usdojcd8221)

MORAL
If anyone tries to convince you not to send the payment directly to the lender or mortgage servicer check with the lender or this could happen to you. If in doubt call us.

09/22/2020

TOWING A MARINE’S CAR COST THIS COMPANY $20,000

FACTS

On September 22, 2020 the Justice Department announced that Target Recovery Towing Inc. (Target) agreed to enter into a court-enforceable consent order to resolve allegations that it failed to obtain a legally required court order before auctioning off a car belonging to a U.S. Marine Corps sergeant who was deployed overseas.

The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against Target on Aug. 18, 2020, alleging that the auction violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA). Under the proposed consent order Target must adopt new policies, pay the Marine $17,500, and pay a $2,500 civil penalty to the United States.

The SCRA prohibits towing companies from auctioning off servicemembers’ vehicles without a court order. The law places the burden on towing companies and other lienholders to determine whether the property in their possession belongs to a servicemember.

The complaint alleges that several facts should have put Target on notice that the owner of this particular vehicle was a servicemember, including that the Marine's car had at least one military decal, military documents were in the car, her address of record was at a U.S. Marine Corps base, and she obtained her vehicle loan through Navy Federal Credit Union. (usagmidflpr20-99)

MORAL

Before you tow make sure you know the vehicle does ot belong to a member of the military.
Compliments of the Throdsen Law Offices, Huntington Beach, CA

09/06/2020

MAYBE YOU CANNOT BE EVICTED FOR NONPAYMENT OF RENT?
GOVERNOR NEWSON SIGNS BILL TO PREVENT EVICTION OF TENANTS

FACTS

Governor Newson enacted statewide protections through next year for tenants struggling to pay rent amid the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic. More than 8 million Californians have filed for unemployment since mid-March and advocates fear a massive eviction wave as both tenants and landlords have lost income .

These are some of the items that bot Landlords and Tenants need to know about the new law.

The new state law bans evictions based on unpaid rent between March and August and requires tenants to pay 25 percent of their rents between Sept. 1, 2020, and Jan. 31, 2021 to prevent court-ordered evictions AND file a declaration under penalty of perjury that the inability to pay is due to the pandemic. Tenants have 15 days to provide the declaration from the moment a landlord hands them a notice to pay rent or vacate

The new law does not wipe out unpaid rent and landlords can pursue that debt in civil court starting March 1, 2021.

The law also requires landlords to give tenants written instructions about their rights, including materials in the tenant’s native language.

Under the Ellis Act, landlords may evict tenants to remove a unit from the rental market. Landlords need to notify tenants at least 120 days in advance.(ab1436)

MORAL

If you are a tenant with rent problems read this carefully. If you are a tenant it takese an average of at least 25 days from the day you get notice to pay the rent or quit to evict you. The landlord may even be willling to pay you to move under certain conditions.

If you suffered injury on the property you may be entitled to other compenensation as well.

Herman Thordsen
Attorney at Law

(888) 667-8529

THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH AN ATTORNEY IF YOU WOULD LIKE LEGAL ADVICE.

07/27/2020

A friendly reminder that now more than ever it is an important time to make certain you have an estate plan in the event something happens to you - or to make certain your existing documents are up to date and/or remain valid.

Living in the time of COVID-19 has heightened everyone’s anxiety. With all of the uncertainties in life, implementing estate planning documents that provide for you and your family can afford so

07/24/2020

As the Coronavirus rages on we feel it is worth it to repost our current community outreach notice in that we are providing simple Advance Healthcare Directives and Powers of Attorney to California and Nevada residents.

07/20/2020

FAILURE TO LET PARENT TAKE CARE OF CHILD AT HOME COSTS EMPLOYER DEARLY

A compliance action by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) has led Mitchell Machine Shop – based in Greencastle, Pennsylvania – to grant paid sick leave and pay back wages to an employee who requested leave to provide child care due to a coronavirus-related school closing. The agency determined that the employee was entitled to receive paid leave at two-thirds their regular rate of pay for up to 12 weeks under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) (usdol7720)

07/15/2020

Are you concerned an elderly loved one is being abused? Abuse can take many forms including physical or financial and can happen with either another family member or a care home.

The cases are very different in terms of proof and protection. Linked below is a resource for those that might want to look into the matter in the event they discover the problem.

Bear in mind that if you wish to sue to protect someone that in many cases (particularly with financial elder abuse) the cause of action dies with the loved one; thus if you do not act before they pass away there may be no way to recover the estate.

Alternatively, items such as health care directives and powers of attorney can help protect a loved one but they must meet specific thresholds and criteria to be enforceable, less they appear as a means to elder abuse themselves. Contact our firm if you would like to know more.

https://elderabuse.org

07/11/2020

Hire a trusted estate planning attorney to discuss what type of trust is for you. We have seen clients asking us to revise their trust only to discover it is irrevocable and cannot be revised.

This happens to many clients who download trusts from the internet not realizing that trusts require very specific drafting for very specific tasks that change what level of flexibility you will have with your estate plan in the future.

Possible reasons for irrevocable trusts include;

Asset protection
Qualified Personal Residence to protect your home
Trusts created in divorce or legal separation
Estate value crossing tax thresholds

Be careful what you have drafted as you may be stuck with it in the future.

Most irrevocable trusts are set up for estate and federal estate tax purposes, while revocable trusts (also known as living trusts) are set up to avoid probate issues.

07/08/2020

Have you inherited a vehicle from someone who lives out of state. Bear in mind that registering it in the State of California is not always your only step. Removing the vehicle from the state it is located in often has its own set of procedures that need to be followed including possibly getting a moving permit, surrendering the plates and possibly even the drivers license of the person to whom the vehicle belonged.

06/29/2020

THIS IS FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT WOULD LIKE TO TRANSFER PROPERTY WITHOUT GOING THROUGH PROBATE COURT

FACTS

The TOD (transfer on death) deed allows an owner of residential real property to name one or more beneficiaries to receive the property when the owner dies, thus bypassing the need to probate the estate. There are some specific criteria, however, that a person should be aware of when considering recording a revocable transfer on death deed.
The real property must be a single family home or condominium unit, or a multiple residence of not more than 4 residential dwelling units, or be a single family residence on no more than 40 acres of agricultural land.

A revocable TOD deed must be signed and dated before a notary public to be effective and valid.
The transfer on death deed must be recorded within 60 days or less from the
A Transfer On Death Deed may be a great option for a person whose only date it is signed.

The transfer on death deed can be revoked by the transferor at any time.

MORAL

Be certain to follow all the legal requirements in order for this to be valid. If you feel you would like assistance contact Sean Thordsen at (657) 845-4014.

06/15/2020

SENIORS CHECK OUT YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR, BEFORE GIVING UP YOUR MONEY

On May 22, 2020 Paul Horton Smith, 56, was federally charged with wire fraud. Smith was taken into custody after a criminal complaint was filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was expected to make an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Riverside.

According to federal prosecutors, from at least 2013 to the present, the defendant allegedly operated “Northstar,” a closed annuity provider offering contracts with purported guaranteed returns of 5% to 6% annually, unaffected by swings in equities. A subsidiary business run by Smith was called Planning Services Inc.

“Smith … advertised himself on his website as a chartered senior financial planner and also conducted free seminars via Planning Services at various locations around the Riverside area, where he discussed estate planning, trust creation to protect assets and other financial matters,” according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement. “Smith solicited some of his victims at seminars.”
Prosecutors allege Northstar was little but a shell company, functioning to conceal the defendant’s scheme of gathering a circle of unwitting investors, paying the ones on the back end with funds placed in his care by investors on the front end.

Court papers offer examples of what happened to the roughly 75 alleged victims, including a 70-year-old woman who went to church with Smith and turned over $175,000 for him to invest.
Bottom of Form
“Instead of investing the victim’s money, Smith transferred her funds to other investors, and he used her money to pay off the other investors’ tax bills with the IRS and the California Franchise Tax Board,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office stated.

An 86-year-old woman who took the defendant into her confidence gave him $169,000 from a property liquidation to invest, but Smith allegedly used the bulk of the funds pay another investor who had purchased an annuity contract earlier, according to prosecutors.

Investigators uncovered upwards of $10 million allegedly transferred to Smith over a seven-year span, though it’s suspected the alleged scheme stretched back farther, according to court papers. (mynrels52120)

Check out your financial planners before retaining them to invest your money. Financial advisors should be registered with the State of California.

06/10/2020

Are you a victim of sexual assault, domestic violence or stalking? Did you know you can obtain a change of name order in California without publication of your identity, address or whereabouts in order to change your name?

Under California's "Safe at Home Program" (different from "stay at home orders" under the coronavirus) victims under this program have a separate means to obtain a name change in order to help protect themselves from abuse.

This procedure is very specific and only certain individuals can apply.

The California Safe at Home Program continues to expand and service more victims each year, according to the quarterly newsletter distributed by the Secretary of State Debra Bowen’s office, w…