Going through the foreclosure process is an extremely stressful situation. Nevertheless, banks have a reputation of dragging the process out. How long is an “unreasonable” amount of time, according to the state of Florida? Unfortunately, a common belief is that many Florida courts are unkind to borrowers; courts are not out to help you in this situation. However, there are laws and procedures specifically designed to protect our civil rights, and knowing those laws will help in these kinds of situations.
Under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.420 (e), if it’s been 10 months or more without any filings in a case, then the defendant can file a Notice of Intent to Dismiss. If there is nothing filed within 60 days of that, the defendant can file a Motion to Dismiss for lack of prosecution. At this point, it won’t be easy for the prosecution to overturn the motions. They must show “good cause” why the case should remain pending, and that isn’t easy to provide. If the case has come this far, it’s reasonable to believe that the plaintiff has either forgotten about the case or simply doesn’t consider it wise to continue spending money on the case.
The defendant should know how to protect themselves in this circumstance. As previously mentioned, there are civil rights for a reason. Nobody has the right to take civil rights away, and, as always, an attorney is certainly the best option in this case. In certain circumstances, attorneys can find out if the judgment can be retracted. Additionally, an attorney will likely be able to represent the needs of the defendant much more clearly than the defendant themselves.
This post was written by Stephen Hachey. Follow Stephen on Google, Facebook, Twitter & Linkedin.
