How to avoid foreclosure in Connecticut

How foreclosure works in Connecticut, step by step

1. Missed payments and the 60-day notice

   Under federal rules your servicer generally cannot start a foreclosure until you are more than 120 days behind. For most home loans, Connecticut also makes the lender mail you a notice by registered or certified mail before it can file. The notice gives you 60 days to meet or talk with the lender or a credit counseling agency and to contact the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority about emergency mortgage assistance.

   12 C.F.R. § 1024.41(f); Conn. Gen. Stat. § 8-265ee

2. A marshal serves the lawsuit

   The case starts when a marshal serves you a summons and complaint. For an owner-occupied home with 1 to 4 units, a notice about the court mediation program, a Foreclosure Mediation Certificate form and a blank Appearance form must be attached to the front. Find the return date on the summons. You do not go to court that day, but your deadlines are counted from it.

   Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-31l(a)

3. File your Appearance and ask for mediation

   File the Appearance (form JD-CL-12) and the Foreclosure Mediation Certificate (form JD-CV-108) with the court within 15 days after the return date. If the court gets them later than that, you need a judge's permission to get into mediation. Filing an Appearance also means you get notice of everything that happens in your case.

   Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-31l(c), (d)

4. Mediation with a court mediator

   You first meet with a Judicial Branch mediator to get your financial papers in order, then with the lender. The mediation period ends no later than the third session with the lender or 7 months after the return date, whichever comes first, unless a judge changes it. While mediation is open, the judge cannot enter a judgment of strict foreclosure or foreclosure by sale.

   Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 49-31l(f), 49-31n(a)

5. Judgment: strict foreclosure or foreclosure by sale

   If there is no agreement, the lender asks for judgment. The judge orders either a strict foreclosure with a law day or a foreclosure by sale with a sale date. Any party can ask in a written motion for a sale instead of a strict foreclosure, and the judge decides. You can ask the judge for more time when the date is set.

   Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 49-15, 49-24, 49-25

6. Law day or auction

   In a strict foreclosure you can keep the home only by paying the full debt, with costs and fees, by your law day. If you do not, the lender owns the home the next day. In a foreclosure by sale, the home is auctioned on the sale date and the court must approve the sale.

   Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 49-15, 49-25, 49-26

7. After title passes: ejectment and any deficiency

   If you are still in the home, the new owner can ask the court for an execution of ejectment. In a strict foreclosure it is on hold until the day after the last law day, and after a sale it can issue only once the appeal period for the sale approval has passed. A marshal cannot remove you until at least 5 business days after serving it. The lender may also ask the court for a deficiency judgment if the home was worth or sold for less than the debt.

   Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 49-14, 49-22, 49-26, 49-28; Conn. Practice Book § 23-17(b)

Connecticut foreclosure deadlines to know

These are the periods written into the law. Your own dates are on the notices you received. If a notice and this page disagree, trust the notice and ask a counselor or lawyer.

Your rights as a homeowner in Connecticut

Other Connecticut protections

• 60-day notice before the lender can sue

  For covered home mortgages, the lender cannot start a foreclosure until it has mailed you a notice that explains the default and gives you 60 days to meet with the lender or a credit counseling agency and to contact CHFA about emergency mortgage assistance.

  Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 8-265dd(b), 8-265ee

• No judgment while mediation is open

  In a case that is in the court mediation program, the judge cannot enter a judgment of strict foreclosure or foreclosure by sale until the mediation period has ended. If mediation ends less than 8 months after the return date, 15 more days must pass first.

  Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-31l(f)

• Court restructuring for unemployed or underemployed homeowners

  If you are unemployed, or your earned income in the last 12 months was under $50,000 and under 75% of your average for the two years before, you can apply to the judge for protection from foreclosure. You must have lived in the home as your main residence for at least 2 years, have had no foreclosure case in the past 7 years, and apply no later than 25 days after the return day. The judge can restructure the debt to wipe out the past-due amount and pause the case for up to 6 months.

  Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 49-31d to 49-31i

• Bankruptcy reopens a strict foreclosure judgment

  If you file a bankruptcy petition before title passes, a strict foreclosure judgment is opened automatically as to the law days, so new law days must be set later.

  Conn. Gen. Stat. § 49-15(b)

Connecticut mortgage assistance programs

If the home is sold for more than you owe

In a foreclosure by sale, the sale money is paid into court. After the judge approves the sale, the court issues a supplemental judgment that says who gets paid and how much. Money left after the lender, other lienholders and costs are paid goes to the former owner. In a strict foreclosure there is no sale and no surplus. If your home is worth more than you owe, you lose that equity unless you ask the judge in a written motion to order a foreclosure by sale.

Conn. Gen. Stat. §§ 49-24, 49-27

Ways to avoid foreclosure

Most of your options come from federal rules and from whoever owns or insures your loan, so they work the same way in Connecticut as anywhere else. What changes by state is how much time you have to use them.

• Repayment plan
• Forbearance
• Payment deferral or partial claim
• Loan modification
• Reinstatement
• Short sale
• Deed in lieu of foreclosure
• Chapter 13 bankruptcy