Bradenton Herald states: "Three months after lenders were first required to offer meetings with local borrowers before foreclosing on their primary homes, no one - not even the judge who mandated it - knows how well lenders are complying. That's because no one is checking, the area's top judge acknowledged Tuesday [March 2, 2009]. 'Ideally, we'd be verifying it, but we and the clerks are so short-handed that we're not monitoring it to the degree I'd like,' 12th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Lee Haworth said. Since Dec. 1, Haworth has required lenders filing foreclosure suits against homesteaded property in Manatee, Sarasota and DeSoto counties to offer 'conciliation conferences' to homeowners. The conferences, which are voluntary and optional for homeowners, are designed to explore possible ways of avoiding foreclosure such as refinancing or modifying the loan. The offers also refer homeowners to Legal Aid of Manasota for possible free legal representation during the conference. Lenders must prove they met with the homeowner, or at least made the offer, before they can get a foreclosure judgment. It's unclear how many have made the offer. A Herald review of foreclosure filings since Haworth's administrative order took effect found less than 20 cases where it was listed on the docket . . . . Haworth said it likely will be several months, as foreclosure cases make their way through the process, before he and his judges get a better idea of lenders' compliance . . . . His district is the second in Florida to require meetings between lenders and homeowners in foreclosure cases, but it could go statewide. The Legislature is considering three bills, including one filed by Republican Sen. Mike Bennett of Bradenton, that would allow other Florida judicial districts to enact similar conciliation programs on a pilot basis."