Florida Statute 45.032 gives subordinate lien holders sixty days from the foreclosure sale to make a claim on foreclosure surplus funds. A recent Appellate decision in the Fourth District Court, specifically the case Straub v. Wells Fargo Bank, 182 So.3d 878 4th DCA, 2016, held that the foreclosure sale, for purposes of surplus funds, takes place once the certificate of title is issued. Therefore, subordinate lien holders actually have 60 days from the certificate of title. (I will later blog about why I disagree with this Court decision, highlighting the Plain Meaning doctrine from the Florida Legislature).
There are several different types of liens that try and claim surplus funds, including:
- mortgages from banks/servicers;
- mortgages from the United States (i.e. Department of Agriculture);
- homeowner association liens;
- United States tax liens;
- municipal and state code enforcement liens; and
- money judgments from private and state parties.
This is not an all-inclusive list, but the majority of the liens I see in surplus litigation. All of these types of liens require a different strategical approach from the homeowner to potentially collect the surplus funds.
Where most third party assignees and surplus lawyers fail is filing a boiler plate, copy and paste, motion for surplus funds. This is a huge mistake as each type of lien above has the upper hand in collecting surplus funds, unless legally and procedurally maneuvered by the homeowner’s foreclosure surplus lawyer. For instance, I had a foreclosure surplus funds case in Orange County where the second mortgage bank claimed the funds within sixty days of the sale. However, the bank made a big mistake regarding a public recording of a document within the county. I was able to file a motion showing their mistake and won the surplus funds for the homeowner. Most lawyers would have given up, but I investigated and researched extremely deep. This put over $79,000.00 in my client’s pocket.
Now, I am not saying it is always possible to win. However, it is always possible to have a foreclosure surplus lawyer that will put you in the best position possible to collect and win.
I have fought and protected homeowner surplus claims from each of the above type of liens. Sadly, I have also seen homeowners with different representation lose thousands of dollars in surplus money because their representation didn’t know what to do once the lien fought back.
If you need a lawyer to help protect your foreclosure surplus funds, please contact our law firm for a free consultation. Whether you need a Miami Foreclosure Surplus lawyer, Fort Lauderdale Foreclosure Surplus lawyer, Orlando Foreclosure Surplus lawyer, Tampa Foreclosure Surplus lawyer, Palm Beach Foreclosure Surplus lawyer, Fort Myers Surplus Lawyer, St. Pete Foreclosure Surplus Lawyer or a Jacksonville Foreclosure Surplus law firm, Haynes Law Group would be happy to give you a free consultation.