In June of 1983 I took out a mortgage with Colonial Mortgagee Corp. Unknown to me at the time, while Colonial continued administering this mortgage, the mortgage was assigned to Chase Manhattan Bank in November of 1983. I paid off this mortgage in full in 1986 when I refinanced through Midlantic Home Mortgagee Corp (formerly Colonial Mortgagee Corp).
In 2003 when I refinanced again I was informed (the first time I was aware of this) that Chase Manhattan holds a lien against my property from that mortgage assignment in 1983. My problem is; I have no paperwork to show the original mortgage was paid off or that any lien was released. To make matters worse, Colonial & Midlantic mortgage corporations no longer exist. I tried for 18 months to get Chase to release this lien and got nowhere with Chase. I hired a law firm who has been working on this for almost 3 years now with no success so far. Do you have any advise on how I can get Chase to release this lien and/or what are the consequences of doing nothing about this lien?

When you refinanced in 86, do you have any documentation at all from that? Did Midlantic place a lien on the home for that loan? Do you have anything from the closing? Do you know who the title company was that handled the closing?

When you refinanced in 86, do you have any documentation at all from that? Did Midlantic place a lien on the home for that loan? Do you have anything from the closing? Do you know who the title company was that handled the closing?
All I have is the closing statement from when I refinanced in 1986. It showes I paid $$ to Colonial Mortgagee Corp. but has no mention of Chase. And Chase will not accept this closing statement as proof the mortgage was paid off.
If Midlantic placed a lien on the property I have no record of it. I do not know who the title company was.

Hmm, If Chase is being obtuse, I'm not sure how you are going to prove that the refinance paid off the loan.

All I have is the closing statement from when I refinanced in 1986. It showes I paid $$ to Colonial Mortgagee Corp., but has no mention of Chase. And Chase will not accept this closing statement as proof the mortgage was paid off.
If Midlantic placed a lien on the property I have no record of it. I do not know who the title company was.

The closing statement doesn't have the Title Co. info on it?

At this point your attorney, or an attorney with lots of real estate experience, will be your best bet.

The closing statement doesn't have the Title Co. info on it?

At this point your attorney, or an attorney with lots of real estate experience, will be your best bet.

I took another look at my closing statement. It does show the title company, ABL Abstract Corp. and they to no longer exist. My lawyer has all this information but still has not been able to resolve this issue. I'm thinking maybe I need a different law firm.

The title company was an agent for one of the large national title insurance companies. I'm sure they still exist. You have to track down a copy of the title insurance policy that was issued and find out who the insurance company was. Another method would be to contact your state's Dept. of Insurance to find out what company ABL wrote policies for. Also, when you refinanced through Midlantic your loan had to be assigned somewhere. After all, someone is collecting your monthly payments, right? Whoever received the assignment should also have possession of the title policy.

You definitely need a different attorney.