The Foreclosure Process

In Florida, foreclosure is a Judicial Process that requires the lender to utilize the court system to foreclose on your mortgage and provides the property owner with opportunities and time in which to remedy the situation by hiring an experienced foreclosure attorney.

The Foreclosure Process in Florida

In Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County, and throughout the entire state of Florida, foreclosure is a Judicial Process, meaning that the lender must utilize the court system in order to foreclose on your mortgage. When compared to states with a non-judicial foreclosure process, the judicial foreclosure provides the property owner with additional opportunities and time in which to remedy the situation.

In other words, a foreclosure case is just like any other lawsuit. The Complaint that is served upon the Borrower contains mere allegations by the Plaintiff Bank. The burden is on the Bank to prove that they are the proper party to bring these allegations and the Bank also shoulders the burden of proving these allegations–that’s where your foreclosure attorney come in. Even more importantly, there are several conditions precedent that the Bank must prove that they satisfied prior to bringing or filing the foreclosure action.

If the Mortgagor (Borrower) defends the foreclosure action, then the foreclosure process can take much longer than when the case is uncontested. If you don’t properly defend the foreclosure case, it may be over in just a few months. Depending on various facts and circumstances surrounding each foreclosure case such as mortgage type (i.e, commercial, residential, uniform, non-uniform), ownership of the mortgage, assignments of the mortgage, answer and affirmative defenses and potential counterclaims, the foreclosure process can take from one to two years on average, three years is not unusual. In rare cases, the foreclosure process may take as long as five years or more. These time frames vary from county to county and from case to case and whether or not an experienced foreclosure lawyer represents the Mortgagor / Borrower in this litigation.

When the court grants a final judgment of foreclosure, the court will typically and simultaneously set a foreclosure sale date. The sale date is usually within 30-120 days or so of the court ruling. The Clerk of Court will give the Borrower direct notice of the sale date and is also requires the Bank to publish the sale date in a local legal newspaper with public notification of location, date, and sale time made by the County Clerk, who typically oversees the sale.

If the Bank improperly obtained a final judgment of foreclosure, it is possible to file a motion with the court to reverse such an improper final judgment through an appeal. One example of the bank improperly obtaining a final judgment is when includes circumstances where the court did not have proper jurisdiction over the Borrower because they were not served properly with the initial Summons and Complaint. Other examples include circumstances where the bank improperly advised the borrower that they do not need to worry about the foreclosure case or that the borrower should not hire an attorney. The appeal must be filed within 30 days.

How Many Payments Are You Past Due? If you have missed more than three mortgage payments, you are in jeopardy of losing your home and you should get legal representation immediately. There are many options available to help resolve a foreclosure situation. The attorneys at the Neustein Law Group, P.A. help you pursue all of these options while we aggressively defend the foreclosure case on its merits, which also results in a delay of the foreclosure process.

The Banks have Lawyers. You Should have a Foreclosure Lawyer.