Foreclosed on and Mad been doing this for a long time for its clients. We have several skip tracing and other resources available to us that we use in order to find people who’ve lost their home and there’s available surplus.

If there is a party who holds a deed of trust or a judgment lien on the property, this party may get paid before you are entitled to receive any funds.

No. Under Ohio law you must retain the services of an attorney to file the Motion (on your behalf) with the Court. In addition, the attorney may be required to file additional documents showing, among other things, that you were the previous owner of the property.

The Motion to Distribute Funds must be filed within 90 days of the date of the Clerk of Court’s initial notice. If your request is not filed in time, the excess money may go to the county’s treasurer’s office.

If there are excess funds in your case, the Clerk of Court will send, to their address on record, you a Notice of Sale within 90 days after the sheriff’s sale. Most likely however, you never informed the Court of your new address. Indeed, the Government is under no legal obligation to make any attempt to find you! Thus, in effect, you never received “Notice” of surplus funds resulting from the Sheriff’s sale of the property you previously owned.

Yes, but if your bankruptcy is still pending contact your attorney or the bankruptcy trustee and let them know of your right to claim the proceeds.

Yes, there is a filing fee of approximately $174.00 which must be paid when your application is filed. Your attorney will also have to send copies to all parties by certified mail, which will be an additional expense.

If you are married, in order to have the full amount of the proceeds that are due back to you, both parties will have to sign the application. If only one of the married parties signs the application, that person will only be entitled to ½ of the proceeds. If you are separated or divorced, you will only be entitled to ½ of the proceeds that are due back to you.

Be prepared to provide a copy of your divorce decree. You may only be entitled to ½ of the proceeds.

Then you are the only party legally entitled to the proceeds.

Then both of you are legally entitled to the proceeds and both of you will have to apply in order to get the full amount refunded to you.

A death certificate should be attached to your application to prove that you are the only party entitled to the disbursement.

Sure you can! This is your money after all. But this is not the smart play. Why?

• No need to put in the time, effort, and incur the expenses necessary to recover these funds.
• No need to find and hire an experienced foreclosure attorney who must file and process your claim with the Court.
• No interruptions to your current lifestyle. You know you have a notarized legal agreement in place guaranteeing that you receive the lion’s share of surplus funds. And In the process, you don’t have to experience any upfront expenses.
• No worrying about incurring a financial loss in the event a lienholder submits a claim for all or most of same funds.
• Because we do this kind of work on a daily basis, we can help facilitate the process by doing everything for you so you can sit just back, relax, and wait for the check to arrive! 
• If we can’t recover our client’s funds, we don’t take a penny from you. Generally, we only receive 30% of the funds. Yes. I do have to get paid for my recovery services. But remember, the objective here is to get you the “lion’s share” of surplus funds into your hands as quickly as possible. My efforts to recover surplus funds for you hopefully will help you make the best out of a bad situation, given the loss of either your home, or a parent’s or relative’s home that you are an heir to, due to foreclosure!

The answer isn’t a one-size-fits-all number because the timeline depends on several factors—such as how quickly the former homeowner acts, the local county’s scheduling practices, and whether any disputes or objections arise during the process. In many Ohio counties, once a foreclosure sale is complete the surplus funds are deposited with the Clerk of Courts. At that point, the former homeowner (or their legal representative) must file a motion to claim these funds.

For instance, in Franklin County the process is roughly as follows: after filing the “Motion for Distribution of Excess Funds and Request for Hearing,” a hearing is scheduled. At the hearing, if no objections are raised (or if objections are resolved), there is typically a formal period (around 14 days for the first round of objections, with additional days for further filings) before the judge reviews and confirms the order. Once the order for distribution is signed and docketed, the clerk’s office generally issues the check for the funds within about 7 business days.

In practice, if everything proceeds smoothly (i.e., the homeowner files promptly, the hearing is scheduled without delay, and no disputing parties cause further complications), a former homeowner might receive the funds anywhere from roughly 1–2 months after the foreclosure sale. However, if there are delays in any of these steps or if legal disputes arise, the process can extend for several additional months.