Expert Surplus Funds Lawyers in Florida

Foreclosure home sales can be really stressful and scary for homeowners. While this can be a necessary part of homeownership for some people in unique situations, many homeowners feel the loss of their home very acutely. To make matters worse, many homeowners are not aware that they are entitled to the surplus funds from their foreclosure once the sale is completed. While there are not always surplus funds left over in foreclosures, there are many instances when there are surplus funds that former homeowners need help to recover.

Working with a skilled surplus funds lawyer is important when you need to collect surplus funds from a foreclosure auction. There are many considerations and complexities that can be involved in this collection process, and having the help of a skilled legal professional on your side can make all the difference in your efforts to collect the funds that you are owed.

Can Other Parties Make a Claim Against My Surplus Funds?

In some cases, homeowners have second mortgages that will have a legal claim to these funds and there will be none leftover once this lienholder has exerted their claim. There might also be a third-party lienholder involved as well that does have a legal claim to proceeds from your foreclosure.

While the homeowner is the last lienholder in line to get surplus funds from a foreclosure, this does not mean that there will not be funds left over that you are entitled to. These funds can help you to get back on your feet and save up for a new home or a housing situation after your home has been sold. You deserve to claim these funds, even if the total sum is not as much money as you might have been hoping for. After all, you paid money toward your mortgage for years in most cases. These leftover funds should go to you when your foreclosure is completed.

However, there are many instances where homeowners are not told about their rights to the surplus funds from their foreclosure, and these funds are claimed by the other lienholders in place of the homeowner’s claim being filed. You are entitled to the leftover surplus funds from your home sale after all other lienholders have been paid off. You should make sure that you do not assume that you are not going to be receiving any leftover funds from the sale of your home. These funds can legally pass to other parties who would not receive them if you have correctly filed your claim for these funds.

How Surplus Funds Are Claimed in Florida

There is a set process that must be followed to claim surplus funds in Florida. You will need to be sure that you have provided the right documentation when you file your claim for these funds related to your home foreclosure sale.

1.       Proof of Ownership

You will need to show a copy of the title to the property that states that you owned the property last. This is the basic proof that you have a right to the surplus funds that result from the sale, but there are some other documents that must be filed as well.

2.       Verification of Surplus Funds

The next step in the process is for the foreclosure records to be looked at carefully. The liens and loans held against the property will be subtracted from the total amount collected during the foreclosure auction. The amount leftover is usually stated in a letter that is sent to the homeowner and the lienholders. This letter is called the Deposit of Surplus Funds Letter, and you will need to have it on hand when you file to collect surplus funds.

3.       Notify Trustees

All lien holders or banks will need to be notified that you are seeking the excess funds that are owed to you after your foreclosure auction. There might be more than one lender that is involved in the sale, and each lienholder needs to be notified. This is a critical step in the process that cannot be missed.

4.       Submit Your Claim

The claim that you file must be submitted to the trustee as well as the court. The claim will need to be examined before your funds can be released to you. If you do not claim your funds after this step in the process, the court will receive them to determine what is done with them.

5.       Hearings and Motions

There might need to be hearings or court processes that are done to allow you to gain access to your funds. If there are documents missing that should have been filed by lienholders, or there is confusion about the order of precedence of lienholders involved in your property’s sale, these hearings and motions need to be done to resolve these concerns. When these hearings and motions have been completed, you will be allowed to get access to the funds that you are due. This part of the process cannot be sped up in most cases, so you will need to be patient as the court works through these steps and investigations related to your foreclosure.

How a Surplus Funds Lawyer Can Help

Under Florida Statute 45.032 (c), surplus funds are those that are left over after the payment of disbursements required during the foreclosure process. The statute assumes that the owner of record on the date of the filing of lis pendens is entitled to the surplus funds after all subordinate lien holders have filed their timely claims.

For homeowners to collect these surplus funds, the proper notice must have been made to the court within a set timeframe. This allows you to be eligible to collect this money when the foreclosure is completed. When second or third lienholders are involved, they will try to collect these funds for themselves instead of allowing the homeowner to properly collect them. This is often what happens with surplus funds in the state of Florida because homeowners are not aware that they are entitled to this money.

Due to the number of homeowners that are not aware that they are entitled to surplus funds, many of these additional lienholders will choose to be unresponsive when the homeowner seeks to secure their part of the proceeds of the foreclosure. This is one of the key reasons that you need a legal professional to help support your efforts to collect money that is owed to you after a foreclosure. Assuming that you have filed the right notice of your claim to these funds, the other lienholders are required to surrender them to you as the homeowner.

There are many deadlines associated with these cases as well, which is why it is a good idea to secure a lawyer as soon as you know that your home will be sold at a foreclosure auction. The sooner that you file notices and documents necessary to collect your surplus funds, the more likely you are to get them back. Your lawyer will make sure that you do not miss any necessary deadlines and signature documents that are required to get the money that you are entitled to.

In some cases, the documents that have been filed by the other parties involved in a foreclosure might not have been filed correctly. This is something that a lawyer will notice and be able to point out before the funds pass to these parties incorrectly. In some cases, homeowners are entitled to the full surplus funds amount due to mistakes in the documentation that should have allowed other lienholders a right to surplus funds.

Being sure that your own application for your surplus funds is correctly filed is a key benefit to working with a skilled surplus funds lawyer, but there are other reasons that your lawyer can help you to secure funds you would otherwise miss out on. The vast number of documents that must be filed in a foreclosure can lead to mistakes on the part of the lienholders, which can be to the benefit of the homeowner. A foreclosure can be stressful enough without losing the right to funds that should have been passed to you after the foreclosure is completed.

Work With Lopez Law Group

If you are in the process of selling your home through foreclosure, or you have just concluded your foreclosure auction, you need to reach out to us today. The skilled residential real estate attorneys at Lopez Law can help you to secure the surplus funds that you are owed after your home is sold. Even if you have been forced to sell your home through the foreclosure process, you are entitled to the leftover funds that remain after the sale of your home.

Lopez Law will work hard to make sure that you get access to your surplus funds as soon as possible after your foreclosure. Contact us today for a consultation, and let us get to work helping you to secure the surplus funds that you are owed after the completion of your foreclosure home sale.