“[Rich] took on a case for my uncle to help avoid foreclosure on my grandmother’s home in Millbury, MA and also pay off a significant tax debt accrued over the years . . . He’s been a pure pleasure to work with, and I cannot stress enough how critical he was to its success and a personal savior to me with his guidance to navigate through the legal items!”
– Former Client, Tax Lien Foreclosure Clinic
Rich Serkey first joined the Access to Justice Fellows Program in 2024, when he partnered with the Lawyers Clearinghouse Tax Lien Foreclosure Clinic to provide pro bono legal assistance to low-income homeowners facing tax lien foreclosure.
Rich says he elected to become a Fellow because he believed his legal career before retirement and the work of the Tax Lien Foreclosure Clinic were well-aligned. So far, he has handled 24 cases, helping many homeowners avoid foreclosure and find relief.
Prior to his retirement, Rich practiced real estate and zoning law for 45 years at Winokur, Serkey & Rosenberg, P.C., in his hometown of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The firm oversaw a range of legal services, including representing developers, buyers, sellers and borrowers.
“Since that time, I’ve been involved in various volunteer activities,” Rich said. “One of the most important—in my mind—being working with the tax lien program at Lawyers Clearinghouse.”
Rich says that, for some clients, resolving their tax lien issue comes down to making difficult decisions.
“I sometimes want to make sure that the client doesn’t feel that I’m an arm of the tax collector,” Rich said. “But the fact is that to solve their tax lien problem, they either have to sell or have to get an equity loan, and sometimes they’re not eligible for an equity loan.”
Often, Rich also finds himself playing the role of a mediator between the people he represents and the other parties involved.
Recently, he represented a man staying in his deceased mother’s home, despite two of the man’s siblings and the children of his deceased brother wanting to sell the property to a contractor interested in purchasing the home to resell.
While working on the case, Rich concluded that the best way to resolve the issue would be to ask the man to move out so his relatives could sell the property and avoid foreclosure. The man’s stepdaughter lived in Falmouth and agreed to take him in along with his wife. However, with no assets, the two had to come up with funds to move.
Rich contacted the man’s siblings and relatives to ask if they’d be willing to forgo some of their equity in the home to help fund the move.
In the end, the man signed the purchase and sale agreement and was able to receive a portion of the money before vacating the property, as well as the remainder once he moved.
“They don’t always work out that way,” Rich said. “You learn to accept that.”
Despite the occasional challenges that arise, Rich is happy to volunteer at the clinic and called the work fulfilling.
“When I was working, my compensation would come in the form of a fee,” Rich said. “Now that I’m retired, and I’m working for free, my compensation comes in the form of gratitude.”
This piece was written by Communications Intern Lucas De Oliveira. Thank you, Lucas!
