Can a Foreclosure Sale in Florida Occur Before a Foreclosure Judgment is Entered?

Foreclosures in Florida are judicial, which means that the lender must file a lawsuit in state court. In Florida, a foreclosure sale can’t occur before a foreclosure judgment is entered due to the fact that the lender must file a lawsuit.

To initiate the foreclosure process, the lender files a complaint to the court and the court then serves the borrower. Along with serving the complaint, the court also provides the borrower with a summons allowing them twenty days to file an answer. If the borrower does not respond within the twenty-day limit then the court can grant a default judgment to the lender, resulting in the borrower losing the case.

If the borrower does reply to the summons the lender has two options; they can either file a motion of summary judgment or go to trial. A motion of summary judgment is where the court grants judgment in favor of the lender if they see that there are no disputes to the important facts of the case.

Most lenders choose to file a motion of summary judgment because it’s quicker than going to trial. Likewise, most judgments go in favor of the lender because the court observes that the homeowner does not have much of a defense and therefore they wouldn’t have anything to present at trial.

However, the judge can deny the motion of summary judgment and the case can go to trial. If the borrower loses the trial than the court will enter a final judgment of foreclosure against you. Due to all of these phases, a foreclosure sale can’t occur before a foreclosure judgment is passed. Once the judgment is passed, then the foreclosure sale can proceed.

Stephen K. Hachey, a Florida foreclosre attorney, can help your wade through this process and determine a positive solution. Contact him at 813-549-0096.

The opinions in this post are solely those of the author. The author takes full responsibility for the content. Like all blog posts, this is offered for general information purposes and does not constitute legal advice.

This post was written by Stephen Hachey. Follow Stephen on Google, Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin.