Homestead Agent Must Pay $100,000 Penalty

An Aliso Viejo woman was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $100,194 Friday for using official-looking stationery to solicit homeowners to file homestead claims and for charging an illegally high fee.

Orange County Superior Court Judge James R. Ross, citing numerous violations of the state Business and Professional Code, also said Joan Grover may no longer do business under the previous name of her company, County Recording Services, Homestead Declaration Assistance.

She must also stop using envelopes that resemble government stationery and place at the top of any solicitation a warning that reads, in part:

“You do not have to record a homestead declaration. Recording a homestead declaration does not protect your home against forced sale by a creditor.”

In addition, Grover may not charge more than $25, the maximum fee set by law, for filing a homestead claim. Prosecutors from the district attorney’s Consumer Protection Unit charged that Grover had been charging $35 for the service.

Individual homeowners can purchase a homestead declaration for $1 in many stationery stories and can file them with the county recorder for $5.

The judge cited the more than 1.3 million solicitations, made over a four-year period, that Grover had sent throughout California for the size of the fine.

Earlier, Groves told The Times that “no one is getting rich” at her company by selling the service. In 1993, she estimated that she was grossing $100,000 a year but spent half that for expenses.