in contrast to the wide availability of assumable mortgages in the past. Assumable mortgages would allow a second party to assume the position of borrower and essentially adopt the agreement that is already in place between the buyer and the financial institution. Until 1982, the enforceability of due-on-sale provisions was basically a matter of state, not federal, law. Many states had adopted laws that permitted existing loans to be assumed by buyers whether or not the lender was willing to agree. The logic behind these laws was generally that a lender should be permitted to call a loan due when the property securing the loan is sold only if the lender could demonstrate that the sale and transfer of the property reduced the lender's security or increased the risk that the loan would go into default. However, in 1982 Congress passed the Garn–St. Germain Depository Institutions Act. Section 341a of the Act (codified in Title 12, U.S. Code, Section 1701j-3) makes the enforceability of due-on-sale provisions a federal issue and provides that if real estate loan documents contain a due-on-sale provision, that provision is enforceable if the property securing the loan is transferred without the lender's consent. Institutional lenders successfully lobbied Congress heavily to add Section 341a of the Act to federal law. Lenders are generally not required to include due-on-sale provisions in loans, but it is nearly universal practice for institutional lenders to include them. For loans by private lenders, such as financing extended to buyers by sellers, due-on-sale provisions are not always included. Also, a buyer and seller could negotiate to include due-on-sale clause that allows a one-time loan assumption. There are certain exceptions to enforceability of due-on-sale clauses. These are generally contained in Title 12, Code of Federal Regulations, part 191. For example, borrowers may place their homes in their own trust without triggering the due-on-sale clause. "A lender may not exercise its option pursuant to a due-on-sale clause upon a transfer into an inter vivos trust in which the borrower is and remains a beneficiary and which does not relate to a transfer of rights of occupancy in the property." (12 U.S.C. 1701j-3(d)(8)..[5].) Note that a beneficiary means possibly among multiple beneficiaries. Similarly, transfer of the borrower's home to a spouse as part of a divorce or dissolution of marriage generally does not trigger a due-on-sale clause. There are other exemptions in the law as well.