I am often asked by clients how long does a mortgage lender have pursue a deficiency judgment. I have told many people that I have heard different answers from different attorneys ranging from one year to five years after foreclosure. I have also explained to the same clients that I have not seen any case on this issue and that no one has ever hired me to do legal research. That’s true until now. Attorney Larry Kosto, a creditor attorney in Orlando, sent me a 2005 court decision dealing with the statute of limitations for mortgage deficiency claims. The case, Chrestensen v. Euogest, Inc., held that a mortgage creditor has five years to file a lawsuit for a deficiency judgment and that the five year time limit begins to run from the date of the foreclosure sale.
The time period does not begin when the foreclosure case is filed or when a judgment for foreclosure is entered. In this case, the creditor filed a separate lawsuit for deficiency after the foreclosure. The court did not deal with a common foreclosure procedure wherein the lender includes a deficiency claim, or count, within the original foreclosure action. There, the court may close the case if a motion for deficiency is not pursued within one year following the foreclosure sale. The Chrestensen case found at is 906 So. 2d 343.
So does this mean that the foreclosing lender can place a claim on any future property up to five years that the homeowner my be on the deed for? For example; if I have a home in FL that was foreclosed on December 2008 and in June 2009 my mother or someone else would like to place my name on the deed to their property; can the previous lender that I had a foreclosure with place a claim on that property?
I have a question. My husband and I purchased a condo for investment purposes and we can no longer pay on it and our renter left. We are wanted to get a no deficiency claim for this mortgage. What are your recommendations on this.
Thank you for your help
Donna Peters
What is the statutory basis for the court “closing” the case if a motion for deficiency is not filed within a year. Is this with prejudice, or otherwise.
Hello,
I was divorced in 2000 and in the divorce decree the house and land was left to my ex. He stopped payment in 2003 and it was foreclosed on. I had a debt collector call me 3 weeks before the morgage was foreclosed on. I did not have the money to pay and I had since moved out of state. I did not hear anything else about it. I recieved a phone call and a letter two days later from a debt collector saying I owed for the entire amount. I told them that the statue of limitations in FL is 5 years and I am not responsible. They said that it is not 5 years but 10 years. Any help would be appriciated, it has been over 7 years.
I lost my wife 7 years ago to cancer and I had a line of credit which we both insured. The bank advised me that we knew she had cancer during our signing and denied the claim but they gave me several years of monthly insurance payments.
I sort of smell a rat.
I was in mourning at the time of all these decisions and didn’t seek legal advice and now I feel I was taken.
Hope you can give me some advice.
Thanks
Byron
In 2006 in Florida I had a foreclosure and moved to Texas to stay with a relative. Can the foreclosing lender place a claim on any future property? If so up to how many years?
For example; if I have a home in FL that was foreclosed on in 2006 and moved to TX in that year. Then in 2012 a relative in TX siad that they would like to place my name on the deed to their property; can the previous lender that I had a foreclosure with place a claim on that property?