source:
  type: guide
  id: fnma-svc-e-5-02
  authority: Fannie Mae Servicing Guide E-5-02 — Servicer Responsibilities Prior to
    Requesting Reimbursement of Attorney Fees and Costs
  description: Fannie Mae Servicing Guide E-5-02 — Servicer Responsibilities Prior
    to Requesting Reimbursement of Attorney Fees and Costs.
  coverage_tier: operative
obligations:
- id: fnma-svc-e-5-02-full
  canonical_id: fnma-svc-e-5-02-full
  section: Fannie Mae Servicing Guide E-5-02 — Servicer Responsibilities Prior to
    Requesting Reimbursement of Attorney Fees and Costs
  type: do
  tags:
  - regulator-direct
  - fnma
  - servicing-guide
  - corpus-expansion
  - tier-operative
  primary_source:
    tier: 1
    authority: Fannie Mae Servicing Guide E-5-02 — Servicer Responsibilities Prior
      to Requesting Reimbursement of Attorney Fees and Costs
    source_class: fnma-guide
    source_url: https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/media/document/pdf/servicing-guide
    snapshot_id: cf63a82bbb4adfba
    fetched_at: '2026-05-22T23:53:19Z'
    content_hash: sha256:89df66c43baad07f8a8dd9d224492fff7d15e8839edba02ad0e74c7e50fe5da3
    paragraph_quote: 'E-5-02, Servicer Responsibilities Prior to Requesting Reimbursement
      of Attorney Fees and Costs (02/12/2020) Published May 13, 2026 507 The servicer
      must instruct the law ﬁrm to submit all statements for fees and expenses for
      default-related legal services directly to the servicer. The following table
      outlines the responsibilities of the servicer prior to requesting reimbursement
      from Fannie Mae. ✓ The servicer must... Review and approve the attorney fees
      and costs to ensure they comply with Fannie Mae guidelines, including the requirement
      that all costs be actual, reasonable, and necessary. Ensure the legal services
      were performed in accordance with applicable law and professional standards
      of conduct. Ensure fees and costs charged to borrowers are permitted under the
      terms of the note, security instrument, and applicable laws. Ensure invoices
      submitted by the law ﬁrm describe each expense item in suﬃcient detail to clearly
      identify it as being an allowable fee or cost. Examples of suﬃcient supporting
      details include: • a servicer’s explanation on a Florida mortgage loan that
      judgment for foreclosure was obtained as a result of an uncontested trial, or
      • an attorney invoice describing an expense as an attorney fee for a Chapter
      13 bankruptcy court notiﬁcation of default and stay termination. Ensure allowable
      foreclosure attorney fees are invoiced according to the last milestone completed
      (see Foreclosure Milestone Invoicing Schedules in E-5-05, Reimbursing Law Firms/Reimbursement
      of Uncollected Fees, Costs or Advances). Pay the fees and costs and retain paid
      invoices to substantiate all reimbursement requests. Have appropriate policies,
      procedures, and controls to ensure compliance with Fannie Mae’s requirements.
      The servicer must ensure the law ﬁrm can comply with Fannie Mae''s excess fee
      process. If necessary, law ﬁrms can request excess fee training by contacting
      Fannie Mae''s SF CPM division (see F-4-02, List of Contacts). In accordance
      with the provisions of this chapter and the procedures in F-1-05, Expense Reimbursement,
      Fannie Mae will reimburse the servicer for Fannie Mae’s share of any attorney
      fees and actual, reasonable, and necessary out-of-pocket expenses it incurs
      for foreclosure or bankruptcy proceedings (including the cost of any required
      appraisal and any advances it has to make to cover escrow deﬁcits) for a whole
      mortgage loan or a participation pool mortgage loan held in Fannie Mae''s portfolio,
      or for a special servicing option MBS mortgage loan. The servicer must not deduct
      its expenses from any payments received from the bankruptcy trustee. Published
      May 13, 2026 508 Recent Related Announcements The table below provides references
      to recently issued Announcements that are related to this topic. Announcements
      Issue Date Announcement SVC-2020-01 February 12, 2020'
  judgment: false
