Legal Services

Grow Brooklyn’s foreclosure prevention program consists of both counseling and legal services.

Counseling

• provide our clients with an assessment of their options, and if necessary,
• referrals to brokers, reverse mortgage counselors or reinstatement loan programs where appropriate.

Our impact is outsized. We expand the competency of our network partners assisting families facing foreclosure when there are underlying estate and title issues. And we raise awareness among court staff, in Supreme Courts and Surrogate’s Courts, of the challenges faced by homeowners who are ‘cash-poor, asset-rich’, entitled to inherit valuable homes but with little or no income. The development of this specialized and invaluable programing has been dependent on HOPP’s support.

Estate Planning

For the vast majority of Americans, their home is an emotional and financial bedrock, underpinning household and neighborhood economic stability over decades. It is also the most valuable legacy they can leave to their loved ones. Between 60-70% of Americans’ wealth is inherited, meaning that the ability of an individual to bequeath the assets they have accumulated in their lifetime is the single largest determinant of her family’s long-term economic wellbeing.

When inheritance is problematized, it is the most economically vulnerable households that lose out, tumbling down the wealth ladder, unlikely to ever reach the rung their forebears achieved.