Georgia Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery
If your Georgia home sold at foreclosure for more than you owed, that difference may belong to you. Most people are never told it exists.
What a surplus is
A foreclosure sale is an auction. When the bidding goes past what the lender was owed, the extra money does not stay with the lender. After the debts ahead of you are paid, what is left belongs to the former owner.
These funds do not sit indefinitely. Waiting narrows your options and makes the claim harder to prove, so it is worth finding out where you stand sooner rather than later.
How it works in Georgia
The sale happens
Georgia is a nonjudicial foreclosure state. The lender’s attorney conducts the sale on the first Tuesday of the month, on the courthouse steps of the county where the property sits. No court judgment is required for the sale itself.
The property sells for more than the debt
When bidding pushes the price above what was owed, the extra money is the surplus. It does not go to the lender, and it does not go to the county.
The foreclosing attorney holds the money
The attorney who ran the sale holds the surplus. If more than one party may have a claim, the attorney commonly interpleads the funds into the superior court of that county and asks the court to sort out who gets paid.
It is paid out in a set order
First the costs of the sale and attorney’s fees, then the secured debt, then junior lienholders in order of their priority — and then the former owner. What reaches you depends on what stood ahead of you.
Who can claim
Most often the former owner. But heirs of an owner who has died, and junior lienholders whose liens were wiped out by the sale, can also have a claim — which is part of why these funds get interplead into court rather than simply mailed out.
Tax-sale excess funds are a separate process, with a different holder and a different deadline. This page does not cover them.
What this costs
Fee arrangements depend on the posture of the matter and are set out in a written agreement before any work begins. We are glad to explain how fees would work in your situation when we speak — ask, and you will get a straight answer.
Find out where you stand
Tell us the county and roughly when the sale happened, and we will look at the records.
By county
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Bibb County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Chatham County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Clayton County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Cobb County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in DeKalb County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Fulton County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Gwinnett County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Henry County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Muscogee County, GA
- Foreclosure Surplus Funds Recovery in Richmond County, GA
Common questions
- Do You Owe Taxes on Georgia Foreclosure Surplus Funds You Recover?
- How Long Do You Have to Claim Foreclosure Surplus Funds in Georgia?
- Can a Judgment Creditor Take Your Georgia Foreclosure Surplus?
- How Second Mortgages and HELOCs Affect Your Georgia Surplus Funds Claim
- What Happens to Unclaimed Foreclosure Surplus Funds in Georgia?
- What Documents You Need to Prove a Georgia Surplus Funds Claim
- How Georgia’s First-Tuesday Foreclosure Auction Actually Works
- Surplus Funds Recovery Companies vs. Hiring a Georgia Attorney: What Former Homeowners Need to Know
- Claiming a Deceased Parent or Relative’s Foreclosure Surplus in Georgia: What Heirs Need to Know
Important information
Attorney advertising. Responsible attorney: Christian Cruz, Esq., Georgia Bar Number 238836. Office: CRUZ LAW FIRM, 160 W Camino Real, 589, Boca Raton, FL, 33432.
This page is general information about Georgia law, not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship, and no such relationship is formed until we have a signed written agreement.