When the Florida Supreme Court set forth the requirements for homeowners eligible for the Residential Mandatory Foreclosure Mediation program, the intent was to give all homeowners facing foreclosure on their residential homestead the opportunity to achieve directly negotiate with their lender in an effort to save their home. The Court put the burden directly on the lenders and their attorney's to identify whether or not the property they were seeking foreclosure on was a homestead property by simply looking at the tax records, stating that "a homestead residence mean a residential property for which a homestead real estate tax exemption was granted...prior to the filing of the suit to foreclose the mortgage."
Effectively, the Court is saying that if a property does not have the homestead exemption that they are not eligible for the mediation program. A Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer has encountered this problem relatively frequently but for those homeowners without legal representation it may go unnoticed. If the property being foreclosed on is, in fact, your homestead, you cannot be excluded from the mediation program solely because you fail to take advantage of a tax benefit! All that must be done for the court, is show that your home is your homestead, which can be done through various means.
If you are facing a Florida Foreclosure Lawsuit and have been excluded from the mediation program, contact a Jacksonville Foreclosure Lawyer or a Florida Foreclosure Lawyer today. It may not be to late to utilize what may be a effective foreclosure alternative as a means of saving your home.
