Often, I have potential clients contact me asking for help with their Florida Foreclosure Surplus Funds, only to find out they have already signed over their rights to a third-party surplus recovery company. Then they tell me they were pressured into signing over their rights and now wanted out of the deal because either it was taking too long, or they were afraid they were being taken advantage of. In many instances I can help get them out of this agreement and am able to get them their Florida Foreclosure Surplus Funds faster and in a larger amount than the surplus recovery company could have.
Florida Statute 45.033(3), states, “A voluntary transfer or assignment shall be a transfer or assignment qualified under this subsection, thereby entitling the transferee or assignee to the surplus funds or a portion or percentage of the surplus funds.” The statute then lists very specific requirements to the agreement that must be adhered to when a potential client signs over his/her rights to the surplus funds to another entity, like a surplus recovery company. It is precisely this language, as well as the intent of both parties, that helps me to get some clients out of these agreements they have signed.
If the client now wants out of this agreement, there must be an evidentiary hearing in order to determine that the assignment of rights was done in good faith. Typically, the judges in these hearings will look to the agreement itself and to the testimony of the parties involved. Most judges will lean toward believing the former homeowner instead of the surplus recovery company. I believe this to be because they know many of these surplus recovery companies are just out to make money and don’t really care about the client. The judges also understand that there are a number of these third-party surplus recovery companies that will immediately close down as soon as they have retrieved the funds and disappear, leaving the client with nothing. However, it is important to make sure you hire a qualified attorney to represent you in this evidentiary hearing because they are sometimes difficult to navigate.
Many people feel they were coerced into signing with the surplus recovery company due to the constant harassing phone calls and felt like they had no other choice. This can sometimes be a major factor in winning this hearing. Florida Statute 45.033(5) states that the transfer of rights must be made in “good faith”. Some judges find that if someone was pressured repeatedly into signing over their rights, then it really wasn’t in good faith. If the judge sides with the homeowner, then the surplus recovery company will be dismissed, and the Florida Foreclosure Surplus Funds case can then move forward. Once again, it is always my advice to hire a qualified Foreclosure Surplus attorney to help you get the most of your surplus funds.
If you have Florida Foreclosure Surplus Funds waiting for you with the Clerk of Court and have signed over your rights to those funds to a surplus recovery company, and now feel like you were pressured into it, please give me a call for free consultation on your case. I handle Foreclosure Surplus and Tax Deed Surplus cases in every county in the state of Florida and I don’t get paid unless you do.