How to Claim Foreclosure Surplus Funds in Florida: Deadline and Steps

To claim foreclosure surplus funds in Florida, file a written claim with the clerk of the circuit court that handled your foreclosure within 60 days after the clerk files the certificate of disbursements. Attach proof that you owned the property when the lis pendens was recorded, along with a government-issued photo ID. If nobody objects and no competing claims come in, the court can order the clerk to pay you. If there are competing claims, the court will hold an evidentiary hearing to decide who gets what.¹

The rest of this article walks through how to confirm a surplus exists, who has priority ahead of you, what to file, what happens if you miss the deadline, and the traps that cost people their money.

Confirm the Surplus Actually Exists

Start with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the foreclosure happened. Most Florida clerks run an online case search where you can pull up the foreclosure file and read the certificate of disbursements. That certificate lists how the sale proceeds were paid out; anything left after the mortgage, court costs, and priority items shows as a surplus balance.

You can also call or stop by the clerk’s office and ask directly. The clerk is required to send a notice of surplus to the former owner of record, but that notice goes to the last known address on file. If you moved after the foreclosure, it may never reach you. Do not wait for the mail.

The 60-Day Deadline

You have 60 days from the date the clerk files the certificate of disbursements to submit your claim. This deadline applies to everyone with a potential interest: former owners, junior lienholders, and anyone claiming through an assignment.¹

One point trips people up: the 60 days run from the certificate of disbursements, not from the foreclosure sale itself. Those two dates can sit weeks apart. When you look up your case, note the certificate date and count forward from there.

Missing the window does not erase the money, but it costs you control and cash. If no claim is filed in 60 days, the clerk appoints a surplus trustee, and the fees and cost advances that follow come out of your surplus.²

Who Gets Paid Before You

Florida law puts junior lienholders ahead of the former owner. Anyone who held a recorded lien on the property that was wiped out by the foreclosure gets paid first, in order of their lien priority. Only after all timely-filed lienholder claims are satisfied does the former owner see anything.³

Junior lienholders include holders of second mortgages, judgment creditors, and holders of tax warrants, assessment liens, and construction liens. A lien that was fully paid from the original sale proceeds does not count as a subordinate lien for this purpose, so that holder has no claim on the surplus.¹

Before you invest time and money pursuing a claim, try to estimate what will be left after any junior liens are paid. If several creditors had liens against the property, the surplus can shrink or disappear entirely.

Filing the Claim

Under Florida law, there is a rebuttable presumption that the owner of record on the date the lis pendens was filed is the person entitled to the surplus, after subordinate lienholders with timely claims are paid.⁴ Your job at filing is to show you were that owner.

Submit a written motion or claim to the clerk. For a former homeowner, the supporting package typically includes a copy of the deed or other title documentation showing you owned the property when the lis pendens was recorded, plus a government-issued photo ID. Junior lienholders attach their recorded lien documents.

If you are the sole claimant and no one objects, the court can review the documentation and direct the clerk to pay. When more than one party files, the court sets an evidentiary hearing. Anyone claiming through an assignment of the owner’s rights bears the burden of proving their entitlement at that hearing.¹

Keep copies of everything you file and every piece of correspondence the court sends back. Surplus claims can take months when parties dispute priority, and a complete paper trail matters if the fight escalates.

If the 60 Days Passed

When no one claims the surplus in time, the clerk appoints a surplus trustee from a list of qualified individuals authorized under Florida Statutes 45.034. The trustee has one year to locate the owner of record. If the trustee cannot find the owner within that year, the appointment terminates.²

That help is not free. The clerk deducts service fees straight from the surplus: $15 for appointing the trustee and furnishing case documents, and another $15 for notifying the trustee. The trustee may also receive a cost advance from the surplus.²

If the trustee’s year runs out and the owner is still not found, unclaimed funds eventually move to the state’s unclaimed property program, managed by the Florida Department of Financial Services. You can search that database at FLTreasureHunt.gov and file a claim directly through the state if your surplus ended up there. There is no time limit on that route, but records get harder to reconstruct the longer money sits.

Assigning Your Claim to a Recovery Company

Florida law lets you transfer or assign your right to surplus funds to someone else, and an industry of surplus recovery companies exists to buy those rights. The statute puts hard limits on how these deals work, and it is worth knowing them before you sign.

An assignment must be in writing and must include specific financial disclosures. If it is signed before the foreclosure sale, the document must state the assessed value of the property, a warning that the assessed value may be lower than the actual value, the approximate debt on the property, and the approximate equity. If it is signed after the sale, it must also include the foreclosure sale price and the surplus amount. Every assignment must include a statement that you do not need an attorney or other representative to recover surplus funds on your own.⁵

The total compensation the assignee can earn is capped at 12 percent of the surplus. The assignment must also be filed with the court within 60 days of the certificate of disbursements.⁵

If the court finds an assignment does not meet these requirements but was made in good faith without intent to defraud, the court has discretion to approve payment to the assignee anyway, but only after all timely-filed lienholder claims are paid. If the assignment is set aside entirely, the surplus reverts to the original owner of record, though the assignee can sue separately to recover whatever they paid for the assignment.⁴

If a company demands more than 12 percent, will not show you the contract terms, or tells you that you cannot recover the funds yourself, walk away. The statute requires the contract itself to tell you that you can.

When the Former Owner Has Died

Heirs cannot walk into the clerk’s office and collect. In most cases, a probate case has to be opened in the appropriate Florida county court first, and the personal representative appointed by that court, holding Letters of Administration, is the one authorized to claim the funds for the estate.

Expect the court to want a certified death certificate, Letters of Administration, a copy of the will if one exists, identification showing the claimant’s relationship to the deceased, and possibly a court order approving disbursement. If multiple heirs make competing claims, a separate hearing may follow.

Florida has a streamlined process called Disposition Without Administration for very small or simple estates, but the conditions are narrow and any meaningful surplus usually requires full or summary administration. Start probate early. The 60-day surplus deadline does not pause because the owner died, and if probate takes longer than 60 days you will be dealing with a surplus trustee instead of claiming directly.

If You Have Filed Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy changes the picture. The automatic stay suspends judgments, collection activities, foreclosures, and property repossessions that relate to pre-filing debts.⁶ Surplus funds held by the clerk can become part of the bankruptcy estate, meaning your bankruptcy trustee, not you, controls what happens to them. If a bankruptcy filing is on the table and you think surplus funds may be owed to you, talk to a bankruptcy attorney before either filing goes in. Timing matters.

Tax on What You Receive

Surplus funds are not tax-free money. The IRS treats a foreclosure as a sale of property. You realize a gain when the total you receive from the sale, including any surplus, exceeds your adjusted basis in the property, which is generally what you paid for the home plus permanent improvements minus any depreciation claimed.⁷

If the property was your primary residence for at least two of the five years before the foreclosure, you may qualify for the home sale exclusion, which shelters up to $250,000 of gain for single filers and $500,000 for married couples filing jointly. That exclusion often absorbs the entire gain. Anything left over is generally treated as a capital gain, reported on Schedule D and Form 8949. Rental or investment property may also require Form 4797. Your lender should send you Form 1099-A for the foreclosure transaction.⁷ A tax professional who has worked foreclosure cases can pin down your exact liability, especially if there was also debt cancellation.

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 45.032 – Disbursement of Surplus Funds After Judicial Sale
2
flleg.gov. Chapter 2018-71
3
The Florida Bar. Disbursement of Surplus Proceeds from a Foreclosure Sale and The Urban Myth of the Race to the Courthouse
4
Florida Senate. Florida Code 45.033 – Sale or Assignment of Rights to Surplus Funds in a Property Subject to Foreclosure
5
Justia. Florida Code 45.033 – Sale or Assignment of Rights to Surplus Funds in a Property Subject to Foreclosure
6
United States Courts. Chapter 11 – Bankruptcy Basics
7
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 544 (2025), Sales and Other Dispositions of Assets