Mortgage

Answering a Foreclosure Summons and Complaint Without Hiring a Lawyer

If you have been served with a summons and complaint for foreclosure, it is important that you file and serve an respond within the time duration required by the law of your state. Typically, the time duration for filing and serving your foreclosure respond form will be set forth on the face of the foreclosure summons that was served upon you. For example, the time duration for responding to a foreclosure complaint in Florida is 20 days. This means that within 20 days after you are served with the foreclosure paperwork, you must file either what is called an "answer" or if you have grounds, a "motion to dismiss." In most other states, the time duration for filing an respond is similar.

If you do not serve your respond form within the required time period, a default judgment may be entered against you. If your time duration has already expired, you should not despair. You may still be able to defend your possession in the lawsuit by filing a motion to increase your time duration for answering the complaint. Particularly in foreclosure lawsuits, courts are generally liberal in vacating defaults. In most jurisdictions, there is a strong presumption in favor of adjudicating lawsuits on the merits, rather than granting victories to plaintiffs based on procedural defects or other technicalities.

Mortgage

With regard to the filing of your foreclosure respond form, it is advisable to hand file your respond with the court clerk. Make sure to take at least 2 copies to the courthouse, so that the clerk can stamp a copy for your records. This ensures that you have proof that your papers were filed with the court. You should also bring proof that a copy of your foreclosure respond was mailed to the lender's attorney.

With regard to the substance of your foreclosure answer, it is neither principal nor necessarily even useful to draft a long-winded, elaborate argument of the facts. Rather, it is advisable to simply deny those allegations of the foreclosure complaint that are false, and then briefly set forth the affirmative defenses that are ready to you under the statutory and common law of your state.

If the former lender assigned your mortgage (a fairly frequent occurrence) you should strongly consider raising, as an affirmative defense, the allegation that the plaintiff lacks "legal standing" to bring a foreclosure complaint. In responding to foreclosure, you may also wish to raise, as affirmative defenses, any misconduct of the lender and/or its assignee. This may comprise deceptive consumer practices, including but not puny to misrepresentations about interest and other fees at the time that the loan was consummated. You may also wish to speak that the plaintiff failed to provide notice, required under state law, prior to commencing a foreclosure lawsuit against you.

If you are unable to afford the services of a underground attorney, you may find it useful to download a sample foreclosure respond form that is tailored to the law of your state. Although such foreclosure response samples or templates are not substitutes for the guidance of an experienced foreclosure defense attorney, such forms may serve as useful guides for lay persons who are otherwise unfamiliar with the procedural and substantive aspects of mortgage foreclosure.

Answering a Foreclosure Summons and Complaint Without Hiring a Lawyer

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