Foreclosure in Florida

How a Florida foreclosure works, step by step

1. Except in rare cases, your servicer can't start the foreclosure process until at least 120 days after you fall behind.
2. A law enforcement officer or a process server hands you the court papers: a summons, a copy of the complaint and, in some cases, an order to show cause.
3. You have 20 calendar days from the day you're served to file a written response or answer with the court. If you don't respond, a default can be entered. You're treated as admitting everything in the complaint, and you lose the right to defend the case.
4. If the lender uses the faster order to show cause, the hearing can't be sooner than 20 days after you're served with that order or 45 days after you're served with the complaint, whichever is later.
5. The lender usually files a motion for summary judgment. You should get a copy, and you can attend the hearing.
6. If the court rules for the lender, the final judgment sets a public sale for a day at least 20 and no more than 35 days later.
7. Notice of the sale is posted on a public website for at least 2 weeks in a row, or printed in a local newspaper once a week for 2 weeks in a row.
8. The sale is a public auction at the time and place set in the final judgment. Afterward, the clerk files a certificate of sale and sends a copy to each party.
9. If no one objects within 10 days after the certificate of sale is filed, the clerk files a certificate of title. That makes the sale final, and ownership passes to the buyer.
10. If the home is still occupied, the sheriff can serve a writ of possession giving everyone still there a 24-hour deadline to leave.

How long it takes

Foreclosure generally can't legally start until you're at least 120 days behind. Once it starts, how long you have until the sale depends on your state.

For FHA loans, HUD's time frame runs from the first legal action until the lender has clear title to the home and possession of it. In Florida, that's 25 months, and the first legal action is a court complaint.

One Florida circuit court explains that the state's time standards for finishing a case are 12 months for non-jury trials and 18 months for jury trials. If you don't contest the case and the lender gives up its right to a deficiency judgment, the court must enter final judgment within 90 days after the pleadings close.

These are official markers, not a forecast. Your case can move faster or slower, so don't count on extra time.

Mediation in Florida

Florida's statewide foreclosure mediation program ended on December 19, 2011, by order of the Florida Supreme Court. Some local courts still have their own rules. For example, the circuit court in Seminole County has an order requiring mediation in foreclosures of owner-occupied homes.

If your county has a program, the clerk's office or the court's website will say so. Ask early.

Paying off before the sale, and what's left after

You can redeem by paying what the judgment says you owe at any time before the clerk files the certificate of sale, or later if the judgment allows it. Otherwise, Florida law gives no right of redemption.

If the sale doesn't cover the debt, the judge decides whether to enter a deficiency judgment. For an owner-occupied home, it can't be more than the judgment amount minus the home's fair market value on the sale date.

Surplus money

• If you're the owner, you can claim any leftover sale money yourself. You don't need a lawyer, and you don't have to sign your rights over to anyone.
• If someone does take over your right to the surplus, the law caps what they can keep at 12 percent and requires the paper to say you don't need a lawyer to get the money.
• Surplus still with the clerk one year after the sale is presumed unclaimed and is reported and turned over to the state as unclaimed money.

Florida's foreclosure rescue rules

Florida's equity purchaser rules cover deals where a home in foreclosure goes to a buyer while you keep some interest in it, like an option to buy it back, and the deal is meant to stop, avoid or delay the foreclosure.

• The buyer must sign a complete written agreement with you before you sign any deed, and give you a copy within 3 hours after you sign.
• You can cancel that agreement without penalty by telling the buyer no later than 5 p.m. on the 3rd business day after signing.
• A foreclosure rescue consultant must sign a written agreement with you before doing any work, and can't ask for or take payment until every promised service is done.
• You can cancel a consultant's agreement within 3 business days of signing, and any money you paid comes back within 10 business days of your notice.
• Breaking these rules is an unfair and deceptive trade practice, with fines of up to $15,000 per violation.

Whoever you deal with, me included, take your time, read the whole agreement, and ask a housing counselor if anything is unclear.

Free help in Florida

• Florida Courts Help. The state courts' self-help page.
• Duval County Clerk of Courts: foreclosure. A clear county-level walk-through of the court steps.
• Eighteenth Judicial Circuit: foreclosure court. The circuit's foreclosure court page.
• CFPB: find a housing counselor. Search HUD-approved counseling agencies in Florida.