- Who sends it
- The mortgage servicer for the loan on the home you inherited or received
- What it starts
- A request for documents, then a decision on whether you are confirmed. There is no deadline to return the optional acknowledgment form
- Do this first
- Send the servicer the documents it lists, and ask in writing to apply for help if you are behind
What these letters are
Federal rules (Regulation X and Regulation Z) call you a successor in interest if you received an ownership interest in the home from a borrower in one of these ways: you were a joint owner and the borrower died; you are a relative who received it because the borrower died; you are the borrower's spouse or child and became an owner; you became an owner through a divorce decree, legal separation agreement or property settlement; or the borrower put the home in a living trust in which the borrower is and stays a beneficiary.
You may get three kinds of letters:
- A list of documents the servicer needs. If you write to the servicer, name the borrower and identify the loan, the servicer must answer in writing with a description of the documents it reasonably needs to confirm who you are and that you own an interest in the home, plus a phone number. It treats your letter like an information request, so it must acknowledge it within 5 business days and answer within 30 business days. If your letter does not say enough, it can send examples of common documents and tell you what else it needs to know.
- A confirmation decision. Once it has the documents, the servicer must tell you that you are confirmed, that it needs more documents (and which ones), or that you are not a successor in interest.
- A notice with an acknowledgment form. After confirming you, a servicer may send a notice that you are not personally liable for the debt unless you take over the loan under state law, together with a form you can sign to start getting notices and statements about the loan.
What confirmation gives you
- You are treated as a borrower for the federal servicing rules and the escrow rules, whether or not you take over the loan. A servicer may not require you to take over the loan before treating you this way.
- If the home is your principal residence, the servicer must review a complete loss mitigation application from you under the same federal procedures as any borrower, including the limits on starting or finishing a foreclosure while you are being reviewed. See your federal rights.
- If you apply before you are confirmed, the servicer may review it right away. If it waits, it must keep your application and review it once it confirms you, treating it as received on the confirmation date. That can matter if a sale is close, so start the confirmation step early.
- You can send notices of error, requests for information and payoff requests, whether or not you sign the acknowledgment form. See notice of error and request for information.
- Under Regulation Z you also count as a consumer for payoff statements, periodic statements, adjustable-rate payment change notices and notices that the loan was sold.
- Confirmation does not make you personally responsible for the debt. Whether you are bound by the loan depends on state law, for example if you formally assume it. But the lender can still foreclose on the home if the loan is not paid.
The acknowledgment form
If the servicer sends this form, signing it is your choice. It says you want to receive notices and communications about the loan and that you understand those notices do not make you liable for the debt. There is no time limit to return it.
Until you return it, the servicer does not have to send you escrow statements, servicing transfer notices, force-placed insurance notices or the early warning letters and calls for late payments. If you want to know what is happening with the loan, return the form. The servicer must give you another copy if you ask.
What to do this week
- Write to the servicer at its address for information requests. Say you may be a successor in interest, give the borrower's name and the loan number or property address, and ask what documents it needs. Keep a copy.
- Gather the documents it asks for. The CFPB says these may include the death certificate, the executed will or a letter from the executor. The servicer's list must be reasonable for your state's law and your situation. For example, if your state does not require probate for a joint owner to take sole title, it generally should not demand probate papers.
- If the loan is behind or you cannot afford the payment, send a loss mitigation application now and say you are a potential successor in interest. Use the hardship letter tool to explain what happened.
- If the loan is FHA-insured, HUD lets a non-borrower who received the home through certain family transfers be reviewed for its options, with a 6-month trial payment plan before a permanent one.
- The CFPB says that if you already have title, its rules do not require the lender to check your ability to repay before letting you take over the loan.
- If the home had a reverse mortgage, different rules apply; see reverse mortgage due and payable letter.
- Call a free HUD-approved housing counselor at (800) 569-4287. If a foreclosure has started, also look at your state's page and talk to a lawyer or legal aid.
Is this the same in every state?
The confirmation process is federal, so it works the same way everywhere. State law decides two things: which documents prove that you own the home (probate, an affidavit of heirship, a deed or a divorce decree, for example) and whether you become personally liable on the loan. Your state's foreclosure timeline is on its page, for example California, Texas or New York.
Small servicers do not have to keep the written procedures for successors that larger servicers must have, but they still must answer your written request with the list of documents they need.
Scams aimed at heirs and divorced spouses
A death or divorce in the family is a common time for scammers to call. Watch for:
- Buyers who want you to sign the home over quickly for a small payment, before you know what the home is worth or what help the servicer offers.
- Anyone who charges to "get you recognized" by the servicer. The confirmation process is free, and the servicer cannot charge to answer your written request.
- Anyone who asks for a fee before you have signed an agreement with your servicer. A company that is not your lawyer cannot charge for mortgage relief until then.
- Anyone who tells you to stop talking to your servicer, your housing counselor or your lawyer.
- Anyone who asks you to sign over your deed, or to send money anywhere other than to your servicer, the court, or the trustee or lawyer named in your papers.
Read how to spot a foreclosure rescue scam. Report fraud at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and servicer problems to the CFPB.
How much time do you have? It depends on your state.
See the foreclosure timeline, deadlines and free local help for the state where the home is.
Common questions
Do I have to take over the mortgage to apply for help?
No. A servicer may not require a confirmed successor in interest to assume the loan before treating them as a borrower under the federal servicing rules. If the home is your principal residence, it must review your complete application for loss mitigation.
Am I personally responsible for the mortgage now?
Not just because you were confirmed. Unless you take over the loan under state law, you are not liable for the debt and cannot be made to use your own money to pay it. But the lender can still foreclose on the home if the loan goes unpaid.
The servicer will not talk to me because I am not on the loan. What can I do?
Send a written request saying you may be a successor in interest, with the borrower's name and the loan number. The servicer must answer in writing with the documents it needs. If it does not answer within 30 business days, file a complaint with the CFPB.
Does this apply to a home equity line of credit?
No. These Regulation X rules do not cover home equity lines of credit. Ask that lender in writing what it needs, and talk to a housing counselor or lawyer.
Keep reading
- Late notice and early intervention letterThis letter is a warning, not a foreclosure. Federal rules make your servicer reach out early and tell you about help. In most cases a foreclosure cannot start until you are more than 120 days behind, so this is the best time to act.
- Breach letter (demand or notice of intent to accelerate)A breach letter says you are in default and gives you a date to catch up. If you do not, the lender can call the whole loan due and move toward foreclosure. Many standard mortgages and deeds of trust require at least 30 days to cure.
- Notice of defaultIn many states that foreclose without a court, a recorded notice of default is the official start of the foreclosure. It is not a sale and not an eviction. It starts a waiting period before a sale can be set, and you can usually still catch up or apply for help.
- Notice of intent to forecloseMany states make the lender send a warning letter before it can start a foreclosure. These letters often give you a set number of days, a cure amount and a list of free counselors. The deadline in the letter matters, so act on it now.
- Lis pendens (notice of pendency)A lis pendens is a public notice, filed in the land records, that a lawsuit or foreclosure affecting your home is pending. It does not mean the home is sold or that you must move. It usually means the court papers are coming or have already been served.
- Foreclosure summons and complaintA summons and complaint means the lender has sued to foreclose. You have a short, firm deadline to respond in writing, often 20 to 30 days from the day you were served. Missing it can let the lender win without your side being heard.
Sources
- 12 C.F.R. § 1024.31, definitions (eCFR)
- 12 C.F.R. § 1024.30, scope and successors in interest (eCFR)
- 12 C.F.R. § 1024.36, requests for information (eCFR)
- 12 C.F.R. § 1024.32(c), notices to confirmed successors in interest (eCFR)
- 12 C.F.R. § 1024.38(b)(1)(vi), servicer policies for successors in interest (CFPB)
- Supplement I to 12 C.F.R. part 1024, official interpretations (eCFR)
- 12 C.F.R. § 1026.2(a)(11) and (27), consumer and successor in interest (eCFR)
- CFPB: How do I get mortgage information about a home I inherited?
- CFPB: I recently inherited a house. Does the lender have to check my ability to repay?
- HUD Handbook 4000.1, Update 18 (August 2026), FHA loss mitigation
- CFPB: Find a housing counselor
- CFPB: Submit a complaint
- FTC: ReportFraud.ftc.gov