Jacksonville Foreclosure Defense Lawyers Protecting Your Home

Yes—if you act before the auction. In Florida, you can often stop or delay a sale by:

• Filing Chapter 13 before the auction. The automatic stay stops the sale and lets you catch up over 3–5 years.
• Asking the court to cancel or postpone the sale if the lender made mistakes, you’re in active loss-mitigation, or you’ve reached a workout.
• Reinstating (paying all past-due amounts, fees, and costs) or paying off the loan before the sale.
  After the auction, options are very limited. Move fast—once the gavel falls and the sale is finalized, it’s much harder to undo.

Usually, yes—immediately. When you file:

• Chapter 13 stops the sale and lets you cure arrears over time while you keep making current payments.
• Chapter 7 also triggers the automatic stay, but it’s a short pause. It doesn’t give a plan to catch up. If you want to keep the home, Chapter 13 is often the better fit.
  Timing matters: filing before the auction is critical. Bankruptcy filed after the sale may not unwind it.

If you don’t respond, the lender can get a default judgment, your sale date will be set, and the home can be auctioned. You may also face a deficiency judgment (the bank trying to collect any unpaid balance). Ignoring the case speeds everything up and cuts off defenses you could have raised.

The Lis Pendens is the public notice. Your deadline comes from the summons and complaint you’re served with—you typically have 20 days from service to file a response in court. Don’t wait for the sale date. Use those 20 days to raise defenses or start a modification or Chapter 13.