Public service notice. BeforeYouFile.Info and Form America LLC do not coach, advise, or provide legal guidance on foreclosure, and offer no services of any kind for any aspect of the foreclosure process. The material below is gathered from county clerk and court publications and is shared as a public service announcement only.
Some of Florida’s county clerks publish resources for homeowners in foreclosure, including a court-ordered notice in the summons packet, mediation forms, education programs, scam warnings, and a claim form for money left over after a foreclosure sale. This article collects examples from four counties, quoted in the clerks’ and courts’ own words, and links to a directory of all 67 clerks. The numbered notes at the end link to each original.
Everything that follows is quoted or summarized from materials published by Florida county clerks and courts. None of it represents legal advice or the legal opinions of the author.
What a court-ordered notice tells homeowner defendants
In Seminole County, a 2013 administrative order of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit directs “that the Clerk of this Court include the Notice to Homeowner Defendants attached hereto as Exhibit A in the summons packet in every residential mortgage foreclosure case in Seminole County, Florida.”¹ The order remains posted on the circuit’s website.
The notice states, “If you are a homeowner who occupies the property subject of this suit as your primary residence you are entitled to participate in MEDIATION to attempt to settle this legal action.” It lists three outcomes a homeowner “may be able to negotiate”: “Modification of the note and mortgage to retain the property,” sale of the property, and “Surrender of the property.”¹
On the answer, the notice says, “To preserve your rights you should either contact an attorney to file an Answer to the complaint or you must file an Answer with the court on your own, even if you chose mediation. An Answer must be filed as instructed in the Summons served on you.” It adds a special note in capital letters that, unless excused by the homeowner’s own attorney or the trial judge, “YOU MUST ATTEND ALL SCHEDULED COURT PROCEEDINGS AND MEDIATION,” and that “Bank representatives, mediation counselors and real estate professionals do not have the authority to excuse you.”¹
Mediation and civil forms
The Collier County Clerk’s civil forms page includes a separate “Foreclosure(s)” section. It lists a “Foreclosure Mediation Form A,” described as “used by homeowners and lenders to initiate the foreclosure mediation process in Florida,” and an “Owners Surplus Claim Form,” described as “used for an owner to make a claim against surplus funds after a foreclosure sale.”²
Under “Civil Procedure Forms,” the same page lists a “General Answer Form,” which the Clerk describes as “used by a defendant to formally respond to a civil complaint filed in Florida courts,” a “General Motion Form,” and the “Designation of E-Mail Address Not Represented By an Attorney,” which the page notes self-represented litigants “are required to provide.”²
The page includes this caution about its forms, “Forms listed on this site are for reference only and are not warranted for, nor are they a guarantee of, suitability for any specific purpose. They are not intended to serve as legal advice and do not substitute for competent legal counsel or direct legal research.”²
Foreclosure education and scam warnings
The Orange County Clerk of Courts runs a Foreclosure Education section. According to the Clerk, “The Orange County Clerk’s Office has partnered with the Orange County Bar Association to provide information and resources to those facing residential mortgage foreclosures,” and the section includes “foreclosure resources and how to avoid foreclosure scams.”³ The Clerk’s civil page also links to its online foreclosure sales and to forms for self-represented parties, including a civil indigent status application and a request to be excused from e-mail service.³
The Seminole County notice described above also states, in capital letters, “BEWARE OF FORECLOSURE ASSISTANCE SCAMS; Foreclosure counseling is provided for free by the Foreclosure Mediation Program and through other Housing and Urban Development (HUD) agencies.”¹
After a sale: the owner’s claim for surplus funds
Some clerks publish a form for former owners to claim money left over after a foreclosure sale. Collier County’s version is listed as the “Owners Surplus Claim Form,” which the Clerk describes as “used for an owner to make a claim against surplus funds after a foreclosure sale.”² The Sarasota Clerk and Comptroller lists an “Owner’s Claim for Mortgage Foreclosure Surplus” under its Foreclosure Forms, alongside the “Value of Real Property or Mortgage Foreclosure Claim” form.⁴
Finding the clerk for any of Florida’s 67 counties
The statewide association of clerks, Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, explains that “In Florida, there are 67 Clerks of Court, most of whom also serve as the county Comptroller, as well as, one independently elected Comptroller in Orange County.” The association adds that “many Clerks of Court provide online and in-person resources for individuals representing themselves in court.”⁵
The association’s home page includes a “Find a Clerk” tool that links to “each Clerk and Comptroller’s website by selecting a county.”⁶ The examples in this article come from Seminole, Collier, Orange, and Sarasota counties. What any other county publishes on foreclosure appears on that clerk’s own website. You can also point your phone at this QR code to be taken on your phone to the “find a clerks” page :
Notes
- Eighteenth Judicial Circuit, Administrative Order No. 13-16-S, Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Notice (Seminole County)
- Collier County Clerk of the Circuit Court & Comptroller, Civil Forms
- Orange County Clerk of Courts, Foreclosure Education
- Sarasota Clerk and Comptroller, Forms
- Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, Role of the Clerk
- Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers, Find a Clerk
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