Purchasing a home is likely one of the biggest financial transactions you will make in your lifetime. Having an attorney

If you have a judgment against you and you’re looking to sell or refinance your home how do you protect your proceeds once you sell the home? 

There is a process called Notice of Homestead, that allows you to give notice to your creditors that you intend to sell the property, or refinance it, and you are claiming any equity is exempt from their claims. If the creditor does not initiate a lawsuit within 45 days of receiving notice, then you can transfer the property free and clear of any lien.

The notices must be sent by the Clerk of the Court. This process is often necessary and required by the title company if there is a judgment against you and you are attempting to sell or refinance your homestead.

Contact our office to discuss how we can assist you with this process.

Do you want to retain control over your property while maintaining anonymity? Are you familiar with Florida Land Trusts? They allow you to maintain the power of direction over a property, including where proceeds are paid and who the property is transferred to, while appearing in no public records?

There are many reasons that a short sale can fall through for reasons that are out of your control. A big reason is that the buyer does not come through.

If you are contemplating a short sale, there are some things that you should consider. The short sale will appear on your credit report for the next 7-10 years.

To get your lender to approve your short sale, there are a number of documents that your lender is going to want to see from you. It's not enough that you've missed payments,

Does a creditor have a judgment against you? How do you keep them from trying to enforce the judgment against the equity in your home?  In Florida, your primary residence is protected from the claims of most creditors.

The first step is to make sure that there is no question that this property is in fact your primary residence. This is especially important if you own more than one property. This can be done by filing a Declaration of Domicile and having it recorded in the official records. Florida statutes state that "

Such sworn statement shall contain, in addition to the foregoing, a declaration that the person making the same is, at the time of making such statement, a bona fide resident of the state, and shall set forth therein his or her place of residence within the state, the city, county and state wherein he or she formerly resided, and the place or places, if any, where he or she maintains another or other place or places of abode.

Contact our office to see if this can help your situation, or to explore other solutions.