Indiana: Sherriff delivered summons this a.m., but we can't file until Feb. Question

[clc08]

I'm freaking out. DH is at work. Sherriff delivered a Summons this a.m. stating a response in writing to the complaint must be filed by us or our attorney withing 20 days... and also attached was "Complaint on Note and for Foreclosure of Mortgage."

We won't be able to file Chpt 7 until Feb. I read the "Sticky" on Foreclosures, but want to make sure of the timeline and what the steps and processes are. Indiana is a judicial state. Could someone please help on this? Naturally, it's Saturday, and I can't contact our attorney.....

I think we have no hope of keeping the house. We also have a 2nd. His wages declined over the past 3 years and he finally lost his job early July. I was "forced out" of my job in August (registered nurse) and took early retirement along with some other unfortunates at my former place of work. I'm 62 and he won't be 62 until Spring.

He's been on unemployment but recently took a job and is 3 weeks in. Very low pay, but at least we will eventually have insurance benefits. He wants to relocate out of state after the bankruptcy to Florida where we have family.

I didn't know if it would be less damaging to our credit by turning over our house than it would if we would foreclose. When we do move, we will have under $75K in our combined IRAs that we could draw on. He thinks we will be able to get a small mortgage with a substantial down. I'm afraid we won't even be able to rent a place, let alone get any mortgage having gone through chpt 7 and foreclosure.

Sorry for the long post. I've never been through anything like this in my life...now having daily panic attacks. I'm so scared. How much time do I have in this house? Weeks? Months? If we would have to move before we file in Feb., that would be bad. Any advice/experience greatly appreciated. Thank you.

[tobee43]

i'm so sorry you woke up to such a bad day....

we had the same day a few years ago....after all the tears and fears we both sat down and realized that after 33 years we just couldn't do it anymore....we had to make a rational sound business decision for ourselves and our future. that same week, although we had been in the loan modification pile going on a year, one of us had already lost our jobs and now the other...so there was no way..even with a modification we were going to be able to do this.

we took steps...step one we called our atty....we had 30 days in our state to answer....he said do not answer you only answer IF you want to fight it.....some people who want to stay do actually answer the summons ...go to the court date and nowadays the judges many times will give you an extension....for some that works well, since they stop paying the mortgage and save money for the move.

we didn't answer and found even after the 30 days no one came around so we stayed a few months more....saved money...called the atty again just for any second thoughts to think about..we were instructed by our atty to "lock it and leave it" not to even notify the bank....but we did. i called the guy from chase that was working on our loan mod for almost the year and also sent an email to them. we just couldn't do it that way.

now, depending on where you are you can stay for quite a while....so i would check in your area to see how long it takes before they send you the letter to get on out of there now!!! i have known some to stay over 2 years......

check the summons...it is the NOD or is it the first notice of default????

don't be scared...again...you can answer the summons and see about getting the extension Indiana IS A Judicial state...which means it does utilized the court system...so you can delay it if you want by requesting an appearance and then "stall"....nowadays like i said, most judges will not throw you in the street.

i know ....telling you not to worry is not going to help. but you will make it through this...really, and it's hard...tons of emotions...highs and lows...but you can and will do this!!! keep in touch!!!!!

[cory1848]

First I would say, take a deep breath and clear your head. You have some time. A quick search says that Indiana's timeline is about 150 days. It says about the same for Florida where I am at and I have been here 8 months since receiving my LP. I am looking at another 4-6 months.

Now I chose to hire a lawyer to file the answers for me. Cost me $1500. He instead filed for a motion of dismissal based on a couple different things. This delayed things 6 months. Long story short, motion denied and we were given the original 20 days again to file those answers. We filed and havent heard a thing since.

If you plan on filing BK in February, I don't think you have anything to worry about in terms of being kicked out by then. BK will delays things for another 3-4 months.

If you do not wish to stay, as it sounds like you don't, then you need to decide when you want to move. That will determine if you should be filing a response or not. If you plan on moving within a 6 month time frame, I probably wouldnt bother fighting it. If it is longer than that, I would plan on fighting it.

In Florida case, foreclosures move a lot quicker when they are uncontested. When they are contested, your file tends to get moved to the bottom of the stack because the foreclosure mills don't want to spend the money on it.

Read up on the forums, they have helped me a lot. Don't forget to ask a lot of questions too.

[tobee43]

First I would say, take a deep breath and clear your head. You have some time. A quick search says that Indiana's timeline is about 150 days. It says about the same for Florida where I am at and I have been here 8 months since receiving my LP. I am looking at another 4-6 months.

Now I chose to hire a lawyer to file the answers for me. Cost me $1500. He instead filed for a motion of dismissal based on a couple different things. This delayed things 6 months. Long story short, motion denied and we were given the original 20 days again to file those answers. We filed and havent heard a thing since.

If you plan on filing BK in February, I don't think you have anything to worry about in terms of being kicked out by then. BK will delays things for another 3-4 months.

If you do not wish to stay, as it sounds like you don't, then you need to decide when you want to move. That will determine if you should be filing a response or not. If you plan on moving within a 6 month time frame, I probably wouldnt bother fighting it. If it is longer than that, I would plan on fighting it.

In Florida case, foreclosures move a lot quicker when they are uncontested. When they are contested, your file tends to get moved to the bottom of the stack because the foreclosure mills don't want to spend the money on it.

Read up on the forums, they have helped me a lot. Don't forget to ask a lot of questions too.

yes, you got that right about here in florida.....it's a MESS!!!! i'm in the same district as you are as well....but our house was in nj and they still have not foreclosed as yet.
also cory...we have a flordia discussion group here on the bkforum......maybe you could help relay some of your experience on that matter for some others living here in flordia...http://www.bkforum.com/group.php?groupid=9

we need all the help we can get here in florida that's for sure....

in Indiana the op at least as the court system to stall things if need be...that's a bit of good news.

[ryan]

I'm betting Indiana's court docket is more similar in numbers to IL than FL, quite frankly. In IL you would have quite a bit of time, even if you only stall a bit. (at least months) You do need to answer the summons, but at least do some research and answer with Affirmative Responses as well. Don;t just deny everything. Of course if you can afford an atty, a sharp one can file motions that will hang your FC up for considerably longer. You may also want to file a motion for Extension of Time To Answer, just to push things further down the road. Courts are usually closed last week of the year as well. I'll bet you will have no trouble stretching this out till Feb 2011

[clc08]

I'm betting Indiana's court docket is more similar in numbers to IL than FL, quite frankly. In IL you would have quite a bit of time, even if you only stall a bit. (at least months) You do need to answer the summons, but at least do some research and answer with Affirmative Responses as well. Don;t just deny everything. Of course if you can afford an atty, a sharp one can file motions that will hang your FC up for considerably longer. You may also want to file a motion for Extension of Time To Answer, just to push things further down the road. Courts are usually closed last week of the year as well. I'll bet you will have no trouble stretching this out till Feb 2011

Ryan, we have an attorney on retainer for our Chapt. 7. So far he has given us advise on pre-planning, etc. and he will be notified tomorrow! At our last meeting, he closed with, "I don't need to hear from you unless you get sued." Well, we did. We will be filing in Indiana. When you refer to Affirmative Responses, what is that? Do you mean answer questions politely, or is that some kind of additional paper? Don't mean to be such a newbie, but I am.....

[ryan]

Well, your atty will know this of course, but its about answering not just the plaintiffs complaint but also stating your defenses.

Typically, the format would be to either Deny or Agree with each item listed in the complaint. There will be a whole bunch, say numbers one thru 20, for instance. You reference the number of each complaint and then Deny/Agree. Your atty will advise, but you would Agree to such things as your correct property address, simple obvious things like that. You might Deny things like current balance in default etc. Again the lawyer knows what will be best for your specific situation.
In the Affirmatives, you may want to ask the atty what defenses he feels will be valid and most likely to delay the action.

In my case I was able to come up with about 12 or 13 Affirmative defenses, but only one that was meaningful: "Lack of Standing"....it helped slow my case considerably, along with many other motions I filed. And as I write this today, I have burned through almost 11 months since the FC suit was filed. ...and I am still a long way from a FC sale.

You should (with the lawyers help) have no problem delaying the FC a few months, imo
( I am not a lawyer, tho I have a tie similar to what lawyers wear.)

[clc08]

Ryan, thanks for taking time to answer back...very helpful. We will be calling our attorney in the a.m.