| Florida Foreclosure
Procedure
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Use the following
foreclosure process to develop a definite plan of action with
well-timed, well-informed steps, so you can stop the foreclosure process
and save your home!
The Process
In Florida, mortgages must be
foreclosed by filing a lawsuit in court. As in any lawsuit, the borrower
must be served with notice of the lawsuit and must be given an
opportunity to appear and defend his or her rights. The lender will try
to show that the borrower is in default, and that foreclosure is
therefore necessary under Florida equity law. Florida is unusual in that
the legislature has passed very few statues regulating foreclosures.
Most of the law on the subject of foreclosures in Florida is found
scattered in dozens of cases. The basic statue, chapter 702.01 reads as
follows:
All mortgages shall be foreclosed
in equity. In a mortgage foreclosure . . .
action, the court shall server for
separate trial all counterclaims against the foreclosing mortgage. The
foreclosure claim shall, if tried be tried to the court without a jury.
Counterclaims by a borrower may be
tried to a jury, but they must be tried separately from the main
foreclosure lawsuit.
In Florida because the lawsuit to
foreclose on a borrower is a suit in equity, it is impossible to obtain
an injunction to stop what is, in essence, a court ordered sale. In
addition, the court can order the sale at a low price. A sale can be set
aside if there is an error in the procedure to foreclose; however, it
cannot be set aside due to the low sale price. The court order
commanding foreclosure will specify how the foreclosure must take place,
and the foreclosure must take place on those terms.
After the sale takes place, the sale
terms must be confirmed by the court that ordered the sale. If the terms
of the sale order are met, title in the buyer’s name can become complete
by filing a certificate of title. At the discretion of the court, junior
lien holders can redeem the property, up to the time of the confirmation
of the sale. The equity of redemption is cut off when the sale is
confirmed, but it exists prior to that time, which means the borrower
can save the property from foreclosure by coming up with the money
before confirmation.
Deficiency
A separate action for a deficiency must
be filed within four years after the foreclosure sale.
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