Legally reviewed by Allen A. Kolber, Esq. - The Law Offices of Allen A. Kolber, Esq., P.C.
Key Takeaways
- Filing stops a foreclosure sale immediately, even one scheduled for the same day.
- Chapter 7 usually only delays it; Chapter 13 lets you cure the arrears over three to five years.
- A Chapter 13 plan cannot reduce the principal on your primary residence.
- FAPA may bar your lender’s case outright if it discontinued an earlier action and refiled.
Your mortgage lender may have contacted you, via letter or telephone, regarding your first missed mortgage payment. While you may have taken notice, you may be in a financial state that makes meeting these payments almost impossible. Unfortunately, your lender may mail you a 90-day pre-foreclosure notice after three or more missed mortgage payments. Follow along to find out whether filing for bankruptcy can stop a foreclosure on your home and how a proficient Rockland County foreclosure defense attorney at The Law Offices of Allen A. Kolber, Esq. can fight to keep you in your residence.
What Is the New York Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act?
In December 2022, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul signed the Foreclosure Abuse Prevention Act (FAPA) into law. Though New York already had a six-year deadline for raising foreclosure action, which stemmed from the point the lender accelerated the loan rather than from the mortgage’s maturity date, FAPA changed a lender’s ability to restart the clock. As such, it holds that voluntarily discontinuing foreclosure action does not reset the six years, and a lender is prohibited from claiming the earlier case failed to accelerate the loan as a means of reviving a stale claim.
Lastly, it states that a mortgage lender cannot seek a money claim against a homeowner if they have already started a foreclosure action to auction off their home.
Of note, FAPA may apply if you received a new foreclosure action on your home, have an existing foreclosure action pending for years, or have a mortgage lender who has started and discontinued multiple foreclosure actions for years. What’s more, if you can successfully apply FAPA to your case, you may also pursue a Quiet Title Action. This may essentially help you resolve title issues that may be preventing you from selling your home independently.
FAPA Is Now Settled Law
Lenders argued for three years that applying FAPA to cases filed before it existed was unconstitutional. However, on November 25, 2025, the New York Court of Appeals rejected both arguments in a pair of decisions, ruling that FAPA applies to all foreclosure actions in which a final judgment of foreclosure and sale has not yet been enforced. As such, if your case has been dragging on for years, or your lender discontinued an earlier action and started again, this ruling works in your favor.
Can Filing for Bankruptcy Stop Foreclosure on My Home?
If you cannot successfully apply FAPA to your case, you may turn to a bankruptcy filing to stop a foreclosure action on your home. This may work because an automatic stay may be placed on your home immediately upon submitting your bankruptcy petition. An automatic stay is an injunction imposed against certain creditors (i.e., your mortgage lender) who want to start or continue taking action against you and your property (i.e., your home).
Ultimately, the timing is worth understanding, as the stay will take effect the moment your petition is filed, rather than when your creditors and lenders receive notification. An attorney who files the petition electronically can stop a scheduled foreclosure sale on the same day, and a sale that proceeds after a filing is typically rendered void, even if the bank and auctioneer were not informed of the case.
However, specifically for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing, this may only delay the foreclosure by a few months. Your lender can ask the court to lift the stay so it can proceed, and because Chapter 7 offers no mechanism for catching up on missed payments, that request is often granted where the arrears keep growing.
On the other hand, a Chapter 13 bankruptcy filing may go as far as saving your home from foreclosure altogether. This is because, here, you may establish a three- to five-year repayment plan to catch up on your mortgage payments. All the while, an automatic stay may remain in effect.
What a Chapter 13 Plan Can and Cannot Change
The cure is the most powerful part, though understanding the limitations is critical. A plan can spread your arrears over three to five years while you resume regular payments, and it can continue until the home is actually sold during a foreclosure sale.
What Chapter 13 cannot do, unfortunately, is rewrite the mortgage itself. If a loan is secured solely by your principal residence, the Bankruptcy Code bars a plan from modifying the lender’s rights, and the Supreme Court has confirmed that you cannot reduce the principal to what the house is currently worth. Reducing your rate or principal happens through a loan modification negotiated with the lender, not through the plan.
Contact an Experienced New York Bankruptcy Law Firm Today
There is no better time to act than now. So please contact a talented Rockland County foreclosure defense attorney at The Law Offices of Allen A. Kolber, Esq., at your earliest possible convenience. Our firm is committed to helping you fight for the best possible outcome for your unique circumstances.
