A foreclosure is a lawsuit that is usually served not only the borrower, but on all persons and entities that have a legal interest in the property that is being foreclosed. If you have been served with a foreclosure complaint for property that is situated in the State of Florida, whether you are the borrower or have some other interest in the property, you should immediately consult with an attorney, licensed to practice law in the State of Florida, that has the necessary knowledge, education and ability to advise you of your rights, obligations, and risks that you may be facing with regard to the pending litigation.

Usually, in the State of Florida, you only have twenty days to file “a response ” to a foreclosure summons and complaint. If you are the borrower, even if you have no interest in keeping the property, and are otherwise not concerned about the effect that a foreclosure will likely have on your credit, you may be responsible for any loss that the bank sustains as a result of the foreclosure. Alternatively, you may have to pay income tax to the Internal Revenue Service for any debt that the bank decides not to pursue you for. Thus, it is important for a borrower of a loan that is being foreclosed to understand that should the bank decide to pursue you in the form of a “deficiency judgment” for any loss that they sustained in a foreclosure case, any property owned by you that is not “exempt” from your creditors under Florida law, is subject to “levy” by the lender. In addition, the lender or holder of the judgment may seek to garnish your wages or take some other adverse action against you to collect on their judgment.

Because of all of the inherent risks involved in foreclosure litigation, it is this Law Firm’s opinion that an attorney should be not only be well versed in how to effectively represent a client in a foreclosure case, but should also be competent to appropriately advise a client in the legal disciplines of asset protection, taxation, real estate transactions, and bankruptcy. At Richard S. Gendler & Associates, P.A., we understand a foreclosure is likely a symptom of a larger financial problem. To this end, we believe that what most Clients need is not merely a foreclosure defense attorney, or a bankruptcy attorney, but an attorney that is sufficiently well versed in these varied disciplines in order to formulate for the client a plan that is consistent with his or her goals. The Attorneys at Richard S. Gendler & Associates, P.A. believe that it is necessary to devise this plan, where we encourage our clients to hope for the best possible outcome, but to appropriately prepare for a worse case scenario. We strive to not only treat the symptom, but believe it is more important to attain the cure, being the extinguishment of our Client’s financial woes. Our goal is that each and every one of our Clients, once their matter has been tended to with the upmost professionalism, be in a position to build for themselves and their families a degree of financial security unhampered by the issues that brought them to us initially.