Now-Deceased Cheating Husband Took Mortgage Out On Florida Home Without Telling Wife; Leaving Her Facing Foreclosure

In Boynton Beach, Florida, The Palm Beach Post reports:

• After 55 years of marriage, Rosalyn Spiegel thought she knew everything about her husband. But shortly before he died, she discovered he was leading a double life — one that has caused her scores of sleepless nights and could ultimately cost her the 1,300-square-foot condo she has called home for 12 years. "I'm so ashamed," the 75-year-old said as she recounted a tale of deceit that has unraveled her once-secure life and made her wonder how she could have been so blind.

• When she wasn't looking, her husband, Norman, with the help of a woman she suspects was his longtime girlfriend, took out a $180,000 mortgage on their condominium in the Platina community in suburban Boynton Beach. By the time she realized what had happened, Norman was dead, the debt was growing and the bank was filing a lawsuit to foreclose on the mortgage she never knew existed.

• When she sought legal help, her attorney initially thought the matter could be resolved quickly. Rosalyn Spiegel, reasoned her attorney, Gary Susser, was an innocent victim of a scam — albeit one perpetuated by her husband. But attorneys representing the mortgage and title companies made it clear they viewed the matter differently.

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• Boynton Beach police opened a fraud investigation days before Norman died in March 2006, but it has dragged on, and Susser worries it's going nowhere. Faced with what he described as "deafening silence" on all sides, Susser decided to go on the offensive. Turning the tables on Gateway Mortgage Group, Global First Title and Freemont Investment & Loan, he sued them [last] month, claiming they should have realized the 45-year-old woman he believes accompanied Norman to the closing was not Rosalyn but someone pretending to be her.

For more, see Betrayed widow fighting to keep home near Boynton (no longer available online).