February 2015 Bar Exam Forum

[Dan1220]

Its true in a lien theory jurisdiction you can't take possession of a mortgagors property. However, if the property is abandoned by the mortgagor the mortgagee can always take possession regardless of what theory is in place.

[numbertwo88]

OK another question for you guys:

Riddle me this: Do 42 bad apples spoil the bunch?

I went with no because of common industry practice.

Same. It just seemed weird. I hated the questions that took the form like "what would you do if you were his attorney?" because it's like, ok am I supposed to give the actual legal standard, or am I supposed to give advice under anything I think there is a semi-decent argument to be made for?

That came up on a couple of other questions too, like "what motion should you tell the client to make?" and it's just like well I don't think a motion to dismiss is gonna work, but an attorney should probably make it anyway...

I kept trying to tell myself I wasn't trying to be rational, I was trying to pick the law. It was very difficult to do.

[Holly Golightly]

I think several civ pro questions must have been experimental because they were judgment calls.

[MichBar]

I didn't count but Civ Pro seemed to pop up on my exam far more than anything else and some of the questions were really weird.

[minnbills]

I didn't count but Civ Pro seemed to pop up on my exam far more than anything else and some of the questions were really weird.

Agreed

[Holly Golightly]

Did anyone else feel like there just wasn't very much to write for most of the MEE essays?

[46-and-2]

Yes. Also, had trouble setting up IRAC for one of the questions - I think it was the secured transactions one. Organizing my answer took most of my time.

[Neidermeyer]

In Indiana we had the MPT and 6 Indiana specific essays (civ pro, admin law, corp, secured, family law and Indiana con law). I jotted down my word count after both sections out of curiousity and was around 12,000 total. Wasn't sure how much that was until I ran it through a converter! Safe to say I don't think I left anything unanswered. Haha

[YibanRen]

I didn't count but Civ Pro seemed to pop up on my exam far more than anything else and some of the questions were really weird.

Agreed

I only got around 25 Civ Pro questions. I got too many contracts and RP questions. My hunch is that each of us feels they got too many of one or two particular subjects because the test questions you get are confined to one or two topics. This would make sense because it would enable NCBEX to get a better idea of how certain questions of the same type compared to each other in difficulty. Then, they could make sure that we each got 8 easy, 8 medium, 8 hard or whatever of each question type on the real thing.

[Bubbles 4 Life]

.

[EZ as AsDf]

I felt like I answered at least 12 questions regarding contracts for the sale of land dealing with the closing date.

[jsmmm9528]

Its true in a lien theory jurisdiction you can't take possession of a mortgagors property. However, if the property is abandoned by the mortgagor the mortgagee can always take possession regardless of what theory is in place.

But are abandoning personal property and abandoning land the same thing? For personal property the title is lost upon abandonment, but for the land there should be additional procedure before creditor or someone else acquire the title.

[you_were_driving]

Its true in a lien theory jurisdiction you can't take possession of a mortgagors property. However, if the property is abandoned by the mortgagor the mortgagee can always take possession regardless of what theory is in place.

But are abandoning personal property and abandoning land the same thing? For personal property the title is lost upon abandonment, but for the land there should be additional procedure before creditor or someone else acquire the title.

the mortgagee doesnt acquire title simply by possession. A mortgagee in possession acts sort of like a trustee for the debtor's property until a foreclosure sale.

[Neidermeyer]

Its true in a lien theory jurisdiction you can't take possession of a mortgagors property. However, if the property is abandoned by the mortgagor the mortgagee can always take possession regardless of what theory is in place.

But are abandoning personal property and abandoning land the same thing? For personal property the title is lost upon abandonment, but for the land there should be additional procedure before creditor or someone else acquire the title.

You know a question is difficult when there is reasonable discourse on it after the exam where you have access to information about it. lol

[jarofsoup]

I am guessing that the property would have to put into a receivership by a court process before a mortgager could enter.

[deliriousxix]

Does anyone feel decent after this and have any passers reading this instinctively felt good after?

All my friends who previously passed are telling me I'm just being nuts, that they all felt this way, and that I did way better than I think. But I'm normally have a fairly decent grasp of my performance and that just felt way off. And it's not that I "think" I got a number wrong, there's a ton I know for a fact I got wrong. Obviously we all get a bunch wrong, but when nearly all the ones I can think of were wrong answers on my part, it makes me feel pretty crappy about the 60% where I was like "I guess it's this one and not that one."

I never met/ talked to/ heard of anyone who thought they did well on the MBE right after taking it. Everyone that I knew who passed generally felt pretty bad, like I did. I feel like I could have gotten 50% correct or 75% correct and neither would really shock me.

Generally, I felt like 1/3 were oddly easy, 1/3 I was about to narrow down to two choices and felt OK about my choice, 1/3 were "lol yolo" choices.

This is exactly how I feel! Hopefully the "ok" 1/3 balance out in our favor. I feel really good about the other two days of testing. If I fail the bar because of the MBE....

[aquasalad]

From the Conviser:
a. The Lien Theory
According to the lien theory, the mortgagee is considered the holder of a security interest only and the mortgagor is deemed the owner of the land until foreclosure. A majority of the states follow this theory, which provides that the mortgagee may not have possession before foreclosure.

Now for the kicker:
2. Mortgagor Consent and Abandonment
All states agree that the mortgagee may take possession if the mortgagor gives consent to do so, or if the mortgagor abandons the property.

MOTHER FUCKER

[Holly Golightly]

Yay for guessing!

[OklahomasOK]

From the Conviser:
a. The Lien Theory
According to the lien theory, the mortgagee is considered the holder of a security interest only and the mortgagor is deemed the owner of the land until foreclosure. A majority of the states follow this theory, which provides that the mortgagee may not have possession before foreclosure.

Now for the kicker:
2. Mortgagor Consent and Abandonment
All states agree that the mortgagee may take possession if the mortgagor gives consent to do so, or if the mortgagor abandons the property.

MOTHER FUCKER

So... you're telling me there's still a chance I could make a 190 on the MBE?

[Dan1220]

Having taken the MBE twice now, I must highly recommend CriticalPass flash cards. They really covered the technical crap, succinct and on point.

[MichBar]

While I'm glad I was apparently right about that question, it's incredibly unlikely any one of these single questions will make or break us. Most of us got a bunch wrong, got some wrong we thought we got right and will get some right that we felt we had no clue on.

[Neidermeyer]

From the Conviser:
a. The Lien Theory
According to the lien theory, the mortgagee is considered the holder of a security interest only and the mortgagor is deemed the owner of the land until foreclosure. A majority of the states follow this theory, which provides that the mortgagee may not have possession before foreclosure.

Now for the kicker:
2. Mortgagor Consent and Abandonment
All states agree that the mortgagee may take possession if the mortgagor gives consent to do so, or if the mortgagor abandons the property.

MOTHER FUCKER

So... you're telling me there's still a chance I could make a 190 on the MBE?

Never doubted it for a second!

[YibanRen]

From the Conviser:
a. The Lien Theory
According to the lien theory, the mortgagee is considered the holder of a security interest only and the mortgagor is deemed the owner of the land until foreclosure. A majority of the states follow this theory, which provides that the mortgagee may not have possession before foreclosure.

Now for the kicker:
2. Mortgagor Consent and Abandonment
All states agree that the mortgagee may take possession if the mortgagor gives consent to do so, or if the mortgagor abandons the property.

MOTHER FUCKER

Double kicker:

4. Receiverships: Most mortgages attempt to intercept the rents before foreclosure by getting a receiver appointed by the court to manage the property. Courts will generally appoint receivers for rental property showing (waste, value decreasing, insolvency).

I think this means receivership was not the right answer, because it isn't necessary. However, it is important to do after abandonment to prevent waste, or when you want to relet. So, because it was abandoned you want to prevent damage, so receiver. But, it isn't a prerequisite. So, of the question is, what must Mortgagee do, the answer is likely take possession, if the question is what can mortgagee do, then the answer is receiver.

[numbertwo88]

The only reason I didn't pick the receivership option on the test was because of an internship in law school - a city agency dealing with basically all property law issues, and several of the properties we dealt with were placed under a receivership. The receivership option made no sense for that question when I thought about it ... and I sure as hell didn't learn that studying.

[dxchpwd]

I am guessing that the property would have to put into a receivership by a court process before a mortgager could enter.

Now that make sense. I got this one wrong.
The bank will have to take possession to allow the new buyer to inspect the property. So all answers that said the bank can't take possession are simply wrong.

Mothers!