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Florida · Weigh your options

How to stop a foreclosure in Florida

You can stop or delay a Florida foreclosure at several points, and the options narrow as the case moves forward. Before the sale, the main routes are a workout with your servicer, answering the lawsuit, paying what is owed, a court order, or a bankruptcy filing. The firmest cutoff in Florida law is the clerk's certificate of sale: once it is filed, your right to pay off the debt and keep the home is over. Nothing here is a promise of a result.

Ask for help in Florida Free HUD counselor: (800) 569-4287

Reviewed against Florida law and official sources on October 11, 2026. General information, not legal advice.

Ways to stop or delay a foreclosure in Florida

  • Apply for a loan modification or other workout

    As early as possible, ideally before the lawsuit is filed

    Call your servicer and send a complete application for help in writing. The Florida Attorney General advises contacting your servicer as soon as you miss a payment or see trouble coming. A court cannot force a lender to modify a loan, so the earlier you apply, the more room there is to reach an agreement.

  • Catch up on the missed payments

    Depends on your mortgage contract and your servicer

    Florida statutes do not give a separate right to reinstate by paying only the past-due amount once the case is filed. Many mortgage contracts allow it, so ask your servicer for a written reinstatement quote with a good-through date.

  • Answer the lawsuit and raise defenses

    Within 20 days after you are served

    File a written answer with the clerk and send a copy to the lender's attorney. Admit or deny each paragraph and list your defenses, such as the lender not showing it holds the note. An answer prevents a default and makes the lender prove its case.

    Fla. Stat. § 702.015

  • Ask the judge for mediation

    Any time while the case is pending, the earlier the better

    Florida has no statewide foreclosure mediation program since the Supreme Court ended it on December 19, 2011. A judge can still send your case to mediation, so you can file a written motion asking for it. Ask the clerk whether your circuit has a local program.

  • Pay off the judgment (redemption)

    Before the clerk files the certificate of sale, or a later time stated in the judgment

    Before judgment you can stop the case by paying everything due under the loan plus costs. After judgment you must pay the full amount in the final judgment. Contact the clerk's foreclosure department to arrange payment. After the certificate of sale there is no right of redemption.

    Fla. Stat. § 45.0315

  • Get a court order moving or canceling the sale

    The signed order must reach the clerk before the sale

    The court has discretion to extend the time of the sale, and the lender can consent to a later date. Lenders sometimes agree when a workout or a private sale of the home is close. A motion alone does not stop the auction: the clerk needs a written order signed by the judge.

    Fla. Stat. § 45.031(1)-(2)

  • File for bankruptcy

    Before the sale, with proof filed in the foreclosure case in time

    A bankruptcy filing triggers a federal stay. The Duval County Clerk lists a timely filed suggestion of bankruptcy, or a date-stamped copy of the petition, as a reason a sale is canceled. Bankruptcy has serious long-term effects, so talk to a bankruptcy attorney or legal aid first.

What Florida law gives you

The right to catch up and stop the sale

Limited right

Florida law does not give a separate right to catch up only the missed payments once the case is filed. Whether you can reinstate by paying the past-due amount depends on your mortgage contract and your servicer. What the statute does give you is the right to stop the sale by paying everything that is due: before judgment, the full amount owed under the loan plus costs, and after judgment, the full amount in the judgment. This right ends when the clerk files the certificate of sale, unless the judgment sets a later time.

Fla. Stat. § 45.0315

Foreclosure mediation

No statewide program

Florida has no statewide foreclosure mediation program. The Florida Supreme Court ended its statewide managed mediation program for home foreclosures on December 19, 2011. A judge can still send an individual case to mediation, and some circuits have run their own local programs, so ask the judge in your case or the clerk of court whether mediation is offered in your county. You can file a written request (a motion) asking for it.

Lender must show it has the right to foreclose

In a home foreclosure, the lender's complaint must state that it holds the original note, or explain in detail the facts that give it the right to enforce the note. If the note is lost, the lender must file a sworn statement about it.

Fla. Stat. § 702.015

Deficiency capped at fair market value for owner-occupied homes

If you live in the home, any deficiency is limited to the difference between the judgment and what the home was actually worth on the sale date. A home with a homestead tax exemption is presumed to be owner-occupied.

Fla. Stat. § 702.06

Short deadline for deficiency claims

A lender has 1 year to sue for a deficiency on a 1 to 4 family home, counted from the day after the certificate of title is issued or the day after it accepts a deed in lieu of foreclosure.

Fla. Stat. § 95.11(6)(g)

No forced payments or move-out order during the case for owner-occupants

Florida lets a lender ask the court to order payments during the lawsuit or to order the occupant out. That rule does not apply to the foreclosure of an owner-occupied residence.

Fla. Stat. § 702.10(2)(i)

Limits on companies that buy your right to surplus money

If someone offers to collect your sale surplus for a fee, the deal must be in writing with required disclosures, including that you do not need a lawyer or anyone else to claim the money, and their total pay cannot be more than 12 percent of the surplus.

Fla. Stat. § 45.033

The options your servicer can offer

Common questions in Florida

Can I stop a Florida foreclosure by paying only the missed payments?

Not as a statutory right once the lawsuit is filed. Section 45.0315 lets you stop the sale by paying everything that is due, which after judgment means the full judgment amount. Whether your lender will accept just the past-due amount depends on your mortgage contract and the servicer, so ask for a reinstatement quote in writing.

Is foreclosure mediation required in Florida?

No. The statewide managed mediation program for home foreclosures was ended by the Florida Supreme Court in December 2011. Individual judges may still order mediation in a case, and some circuits have had local programs. You can ask for mediation in a written motion.

Will filing an objection stop my Florida foreclosure sale?

An objection comes after the sale, not before. You have 10 days after the certificate of sale is filed to object to the sale, and the judge then decides whether the certificate of title should be issued. It does not bring back the right to pay off the judgment, which ends at the certificate of sale.

Step by step

More on foreclosure in Florida

Understand the process

What is happening and how much time there is.

Weigh your options

What can stop it, and what happens if it goes ahead.

Get help now

Who to call, and what to do when a sale is scheduled.

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Sources for this page

  1. Florida Statutes chapter 702, Foreclosure of Mortgages and Statutory Liens (2026)
  2. Florida Statutes chapter 45, including §§ 45.031 to 45.035 (judicial sales, redemption, surplus) (2026)
  3. Fla. Stat. § 95.11, Limitations other than for the recovery of real property
  4. Fla. Stat. § 501.1377, Violations involving homeowners during the course of residential foreclosure proceedings
  5. Florida Law Help: Foreclosures
  6. Duval County Clerk of Courts: Foreclosure (defendant information, sales, cancellation, writ of possession)
  7. Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Administrative Order 12-02-B (statewide managed mediation program terminated December 19, 2011)
  8. Florida Department of Economic Opportunity: HAF program accomplishments (December 29, 2022)
  9. U.S. Treasury: Homeowner Assistance Fund (period of performance ended September 30, 2026)
  10. Florida Housing: Florida's Hardest-Hit Fund (all programs closed)
  11. Florida Housing: State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP) program
  12. Florida Attorney General: Mortgage Fraud