Southtrust law & Title PA is now Dubyak Law P.A.
Southtrust law & Title PA is now Dubyak Law P.A.
In this article, you can discover…
No, you are not legally protected from foreclosure simply because you are having a hard time financially.
When you used a bank to finance the purchase of your home, you made an agreement with the bank that you would pay them back in line with the terms of your mortgage. The fact that you are having a hard time doesn’t lessen or impact your obligation to pay the bank what you still owe.
In rare cases, there may be a national or regional hardship that will prevent banks from foreclosing on your home, such as Covid, or a hurricane that could cause FEMA or the VA to issue a moratorium on foreclosures. Apart from these circumstances, there are no protections against foreclosure, even if you are struggling financially.
When you work with the Dubyak Law Firm, P.A., we’ll talk you through the foreclosure process and try to determine the best path forward that would allow you to keep your home.
In Florida, you can miss up to three payments before the bank will require you to make a full reinstatement payment. This means that if you miss one, two, or three months, you can always make a single month’s (or even a partial month’s) payment to the bank and they’ll accept it.
Once you get behind on the fourth payment, the bank will not accept partial payment and will make you repay the entire outstanding balance (also known as the “reinstatement amount”). This will include four months of missed payments, plus any late fees and any additional fees such as taxes or homeowner’s insurance fees.
If they still do not receive payment, they will send your file over to a foreclosure attorney, who will start initiating a foreclosure process. Once that file is sent, attorney’s fees are instantly incurred, requiring you to reinstate that amount, as well.
By month six or seven, you’re going to get a foreclosure notice, giving you 30 days’ notice that the bank is going to foreclose on your home. At the end of those 30 days, expect a lawsuit to be filed and your house to be completely foreclosed on by the bank within as few as 60 to 90 days. With some defensive legal help and effort, however, you can sometimes delay foreclosure for several months to a year or more.
Absolutely. Filing for bankruptcy stops the foreclosure process during the pendency of the bankruptcy, unless the bank files a motion for relief from the bankruptcy stay. A lien on the house could be a reason that the bankruptcy court would allow the stay to be waived, but this would still buy you a considerable amount of time.
So, what generally happens leading up to and during bankruptcy? Usually, clients facing foreclosure are in a considerable amount of debt, even beyond mortgage payments.
Once your debts make it difficult to pay your mortgage, bankruptcy is often used to help stop a foreclosure sale of your home. This typically gives you another six months to live in your home and time to propose a plan to the bankruptcy court to work through your debt.
There’s not usually a whole lot that you can do if the apartment complex you live in goes into foreclosure, unless your lease was notarized and recorded in the public record prior to the filing of foreclosure. If your lease is recorded, the bank would be obligated to follow through on the obligations of that lease after it forecloses.
If another party were to buy the property at a foreclosure sale, they must generally honor your existing good-faith lease until it expires. The new owner can only terminate the lease early if they plan to live in the property themselves.
Apart from this, you have very few rights as a Florida tenant. If your landlord stops making their own payment and goes into foreclosure, you are still obligated to pay them monthly rent, unless your lease specifically allows you to escape those obligations.
Absolutely. You still own the property until the bank takes it back or it’s sold at a foreclosure auction, and you have every right to sell it. You have the option to try to save your home, but if you have equity in the property, the best thing to do may be to sell the home and maximize your return on investment.
You really don’t want to fight a foreclosure too hard if you have equity in your home. This is because fighting the foreclosure can become incredibly expensive— the bank will add their legal fees onto your outstanding mortgage payments and require you to pay those fees. You wind up paying your own attorney as well as the bank’s attorney.
The best thing to do is sit down with a foreclosure defense attorney and determine if it’s best to sell your home or try to save your home through a mortgage loan modification.
For more information on Florida foreclosure defense attorneys in 2025, an initial consultation is your next best step. Get the information and legal answers you are seeking by calling (850) 280-6251 today.
Attorney Jeremy Dubyak is a diligent, respected foreclosure defense attorney serving Florida. Since 2008, he’s helped clients just like you protect their homes, fight for their rights, and make the best plans possible for their futures in light of foreclosure.
Have questions, or in need of legal guidance? Reach out to the Dubyak Law Firm, P.A. for an initial consultation today.
