In Foreclosure? Our Plantation Foreclosure Lawyers Can Help.

Last updated on April 28, 2026

Light & Gonzalez, PLLC, handles foreclosure defense cases in Plantation and throughout South Florida. We are available for consultation on Pine Island between 595 and Broward and will handle any matter in Broward County, Miami-Dade County or Palm Beach County. We are happy to take the time to thoughtfully advise you on your foreclosure or any other consumer debt-related matter you may have.

There are many defenses that may be available to you, and, as your attorneys, we will fight and defend against the bank foreclosing on your home. Defending your action will send a message to the bank that South Florida will not tolerate abusive business practices that prey on our community.

Why Hire Light & Gonzalez, PLLC, For Foreclosure Defense?

Not all firms handle foreclosure cases the same way. We focus on protecting Florida consumers, explaining your options in plain English, and building a plan that reflects what matters most to you.

• 20-plus years of combined experience in foreclosure defense, bankruptcy, and consumer financial litigation.
• Selected to the Super Lawyers Rising Stars list, reflecting peer recognition in the legal community.
• Spanish-speaking representation to better serve more South Florida families.
• Direct access to your attorney: You work with your lawyer – not handed off to a call center.
• A consultative, education-first approach: We listen closely, review your documents and explain practical options before you decide.
• Solutions beyond “bankruptcy”: When possible, we help clients avoid bankruptcy through unfair debt collection and consumer protection strategies.

Whether you want to fight the foreclosure, pursue a workout option or protect yourself from a deficiency, our goal is the same: help you take control of your financial future and make informed decisions at every stage.

What Is Foreclosure?

Foreclosure is a legal procedure in which a lender recovers the outstanding balance of a loan from a homeowner who can no longer make payments. It involves the lender taking ownership of and selling the mortgaged property. The process begins when the borrower defaults on their mortgage, leading the lender to file a lawsuit. Florida follows a judicial foreclosure process, meaning the case goes through the court system, offering the borrower an opportunity to contest. It’s crucial for homeowners facing foreclosure to understand their rights and explore possible alternatives, such as loan modification or short sale, to potentially avoid losing their home.

Will Filing Chapter 7 Save Your House Permanently?

Ultimately, filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy will not stop the bank from foreclosing on you. Bankruptcy will temporarily stop a foreclosure sale, but the note holder can obtain relief from the stay. Even after your bankruptcy has been discharged, the bank will still be able to foreclose on your home.

A Chapter 7 bankruptcy may discharge your personal liability on the mortgage debt, which generally means the lender cannot pursue you personally for a deficiency judgment after the foreclosure sale. However, even after a Chapter 7 discharge, the lender can still enforce its lien rights and proceed with foreclosure against the property. Our Plantation bankruptcy lawyers are experienced in filing Chapter 7 and can advise you on whether you qualify.

How Can We Help You?

When you’re facing foreclosure, you deserve clear answers and a strategy that fits your goals. Our team helps homeowners in Plantation and throughout South Florida evaluate every available option – then execute quickly.

• Foreclosure defense litigation: Defending homeowners from the first notice through trial when needed
• Loan modifications: Pursuing loss mitigation options that may help you keep your home
• Short sales: Advising you on whether selling is the best financial outcome and helping you navigate the process
• Cash for keys: Negotiating structured move-out agreements in appropriate cases
• Post-judgment relief: Reviewing options when collections continue or other enforcement is involved
• Deficiency defense: Helping protect you from claims for a remaining balance after a foreclosure sale

If you’re unsure which direction makes sense, we will walk you through the pros and cons of each path and help you take the next step with confidence.

Meet Your Attorneys

When you call Light & Gonzalez, PLLC, you can speak directly with an attorney. Our team takes the time to listen, review your documents, and explain your options clearly – so you can choose a strategy that fits your goals.

Anthony Gonzalez, Esq.

Anthony Gonzalez is a manager-member at Light & Gonzalez, PLLC, with experience representing individuals in foreclosure defense, credit card debt defense, deficiency judgment defense, contract disputes, and matters in Federal Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Florida. Clients value his practical, client-centered approach and his commitment to helping people understand their legal options before making high-stakes decisions about their home and finances. Anthony is also deeply committed to the South Florida community, including extensive volunteer service with organizations such as Feeding South Florida and the Jubilee Center of South Broward.

Read Anthony Gonzalez’s Full Bio »

Gregory Light, Esq.

Gregory Light is a manager-member at Light & Gonzalez, PLLC, where he focuses on consumer financial services litigation, with experience that includes substantial work in foreclosure defense and appellate matters. Greg earned his J.D. from St. Thomas University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in the top 5% of his class, and has demonstrated long-standing legal leadership, including founding the St. Thomas Journal of Complex Litigation and serving as its first editor-in-chief. He is admitted to the Florida Bar and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and brings a research-driven approach to defending homeowners and consumers.

Read Gregory Light’s Full Bio »

Our Team Explores All Your Options

Our Plantation foreclosure lawyers will always recommend that you explore every option you have available to you so that you can make the most informed decision. We are happy to thoroughly discuss the pros and cons of litigation, loss mitigation and all other options that are available to you for your foreclosure action. It is our job to help you through one of the most difficult times of your life, and we will do everything we can to make the process as smooth and transparent as possible.

Common Mortgage Provisions We Analyze In Your Case

Mortgages throughout the United States are very similar. How your home purchase is being financed will largely determine which form of mortgage you will be offered. In order for Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to underwrite a loan, the loan must meet certain requirements and therefore tend to be in the same form. Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Veteran’s Administration (VA), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), and Rural Housing Service (RHA) all have their own requirements for funding as well. Each one of these mortgages will have different types of protections for borrowers and can be worded differently, but chances are your FHA mortgage is going to look exactly like your neighbor’s FHA mortgage. Below is a brief overview of just a few of the most common mortgage loan provisions that may be contained in your mortgage.

Acceleration Clause (Commonly Paragraph 22)

Almost all mortgages have a provision allowing the noteholder to accelerate all amounts due under the note if certain conditions are met. Typically, the mortgagor will have to default, and a notice must be provided to the borrower to let them know that the bank is exercising its right to accelerate all the amounts due. The borrower must be given an opportunity to cure the default. The provision is most often found in paragraph 22 of the mortgage and reads:

22. Acceleration; Remedies. Lender shall give notice to borrower prior to acceleration following borrower’s breach of any covenant or agreement in this security instrument (but not prior to acceleration under Section 18 unless applicable law provides otherwise). The notice shall specify: (a) the default; (b) the action required to cure the default; (c) a date, not less than 30 days from the date the notice is given to the borrower, by which the default must be cured; and (d) that failure to cure the default on or before the date specified in the notice may result in acceleration of the sums secured by this security instrument, foreclosure by judicial proceeding and sale of the property. The notice shall further inform the borrower of the right to reinstate after acceleration and the right to assert in the foreclosure proceeding the nonexistence of a default or any other defense of the borrower to acceleration and foreclosure. If the default is not cured on or before the date specified in the notice, Lender, at its option, may require immediate payment in full of all sums secured by this security instrument without further demand and may foreclose this security instrument by judicial proceeding. Lender shall be entitled to collect all expenses incurred in pursuing the remedies provided in this Section 22, including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of title evidence.

Courts throughout Florida have found that, so long as the mortgagor substantially complies with these requirements, the noteholder can bring an action to foreclose on the mortgage.

FHA Acceleration Provision

FHA mortgage notes contain a different type of acceleration provision that requires the noteholder to take additional steps pursuant to the existing Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations. The following provision is found in many FHA notes and mortgages:

If the borrower defaults by failing to pay in full any monthly payment, then the lender may, except as limited by regulations of the Secretary in the case of payment defaults, require immediate payment in full of the principal balance remaining due and all accrued interest. This Note does not authorize acceleration when not permitted by HUD regulations. As used in this Note, “Secretary” means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development or his or her designee.

Emphasis added. The HUD regulation that affords significant protections to homeowners who have defaulted on their mortgage payments is:

(b) The mortgagee must have a face-to-face interview with the mortgagor, or make a reasonable effort to arrange such a meeting, before three full monthly installments due on the mortgage are unpaid. If a default occurs in a repayment plan arranged other than during a personal interview, the mortgagee must have a face-to-face meeting with the mortgagor or make a reasonable attempt to arrange such a meeting within 30 days after such default and at least 30 days before foreclosure is commenced.

Unlike the notice letter sent pursuant to paragraph 22, courts in Florida have construed this regulation strictly. If the noteholder does not undertake to have a face-to-face interview with the mortgagor or make a reasonable effort to arrange such a meeting, then the noteholder cannot foreclose. If the noteholder does initiate a foreclosure action without having or attempting to have the face-to-face meeting, then the foreclosure lawsuit may very well get dismissed.

Contractual Attorney Fees Provision

Every mortgage that our firm has seen provides that if the lender or noteholder has to bring an action to enforce the note agreement, then the lender is entitled to reasonable attorneys fees. In fact, this attorney’s fee provision is written into paragraph 22 above. The notes do not tend to allow for the homeowner/mortgagor/borrower to have their attorney fees paid for if they have to bring litigation, though.

Fortunately, Florida has a “reciprocity” statute. Under Fla. Stat. § 57.105(7), if a mortgage or note gives the lender the right to recover attorneys’ fees, Florida law can make that provision reciprocal—meaning the borrower may also seek reasonable attorneys’ fees if the borrower prevails in the litigation.

Recent Florida Supreme Court decisions (including Page v. Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas) clarify that a borrower generally must establish that both sides are parties to the mortgage contract to recover fees under § 57.105(7). Because foreclosure cases can involve disputes about standing and contract enforcement, fee entitlement can be fact-specific and should be evaluated based on the pleadings and evidence in your case.

Foreclosure In Plantation, Florida: What You Need To Know

The foreclosure defense lawyers at Light & Gonzalez, PLLC, are available for consultation in Plantation. Our experienced Florida attorneys defend foreclosures throughout all of Florida and will work hard to help you get out of any type of financial distress you find yourself in. Homeowners have a lot of options when they are facing a foreclosure, and we are committed to helping you understand them.

The Florida Foreclosure Process: Your Timeline To Take Action

Florida is a judicial foreclosure state, which means the lender typically must file a lawsuit and prove its case in court. Timelines vary by county and by case, but the stages below explain what often happens and where you can still take meaningful steps to protect yourself.

History Of Foreclosures In Plantation, Florida

Home values in Plantation plummeted after the economic downturn in 2006-2007. Many people managed to weather the storm, but many more found their mortgage payments to be too high as interest rates skyrocketed.

Plantation has a wide range of home values and property types, from numerous apartment complexes and condominiums to affluent neighborhoods like Plantation Acres. As a result, property values vary widely. The most recent low point for average residential real estate values occurred in September of 2011, but by 2017, the Zillow Home Value Index for Plantation had rebounded to $292,000. Many homeowners have been able to successfully fight their foreclosures, and our lawyers have been at their side throughout the process, helping them get out from under previously underwater mortgages.

Current Foreclosure Trends And Defenses In Plantation

If you are currently in foreclosure in Plantation, no matter what stage of the process you are in, the lawyers at Light & Gonzalez, PLLC, may be able to help. There are foreclosure defenses available to many homeowners that may result in a complete dismissal of the case. Yes, that means that it is possible to beat the bank. Some of the common ways a foreclosure may be dismissed include:

• Lack of standing: The bank that foreclosed doesn’t actually have the right to enforce the debt obligation.
• Failure to comply with conditions precedent: The bank did not send a required notice before initiating a foreclosure proceeding.
• Statute of limitations: The time limit for collecting a particular payment has passed.

Our team of foreclosure defense attorneys has experience with all of these defenses and will work hard to protect your home.

Common Foreclosure Defenses In Florida

There are many defenses your foreclosure lawyer may be able to use to defend against a foreclosure action that has been filed against you. The facts of your case will determine which defenses are available, but some of the defenses our lawyers often raise in residential foreclosure defense cases include:

• Standing: This defense is powerful in nearly every residential mortgage foreclosure. Standing boils down to whether the party that is bringing the action against you is not actually the correct party to bring the foreclosure action. If the party that brings the lawsuit is not legally entitled to enforce the promissory note when the foreclosure action is filed, the case will be dismissed. Many foreclosure cases have been dismissed because the party that brought suit did not have standing to enforce the note at the time the foreclosure action was filed.
• Conditions precedent: Some mortgages require that the bank go through certain steps before they can file a foreclosure action against you. This could mean that the bank was required to send you a letter before foreclosing, or it could even mean that they were required to have a sit-down, in-person meeting with you prior to foreclosing on your South Florida home. If the bank fails to take these preliminary steps, they cannot always foreclose.
• Res judicata: In some situations, a prior dismissal may limit what a lender can re-litigate based on the same alleged default. However, Florida courts often allow a lender to file a new foreclosure action if there is a subsequent default after the prior case was dismissed (including under the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Bartram v. U.S. Bank). Whether res judicata applies depends on the timing of the defaults and the prior court rulings.
• Novation: This defense may be available to you if you have entered into a loan modification agreement with the noteholder, and the bank is attempting to foreclose on the unmodified promissory note. As a general principle, a party cannot sue to enforce a contract if the parties have agreed to another contract to replace the original. When there’s been a loan modification, this can be a powerful defense that results in dismissal.
• Accord and satisfaction: Similar to novation, if the parties have agreed that you have satisfied your original contractual obligation, either by satisfying the original obligation or by replacing the original contract with a modified one, accord and satisfaction can be a complete defense to a foreclosure action. This defense is available if you’ve refinanced your original promissory note or if you’ve made all the payments you were required to make under the terms of the note.
• Statute of limitations: Each type of lawsuit has a statute of limitations, which requires that a party bring a lawsuit within a certain amount of time or the claim will be unenforceable. While Florida courts treat mortgage foreclosure cases differently from some other types of lawsuits, the statute of limitations may still prevent the bank from collecting certain mortgage installment payments if the bank does not file the foreclosure action within the period allowed for in the statute of limitations. Case law from 2016 significantly changed the law in Florida on how the statute of limitations applies to mortgage foreclosure cases, but we keep up-to-date and are prepared to use all the tools available to defend your foreclosure lawsuit.

Our team of foreclosure defense attorneys and bankruptcy attorneys has experience raising all these defenses on behalf of our clients. You can also learn more about consumer-rights strategies we use to protect clients on related matters at Unfair Debt Collection and Credit Card Debt Defense.

In-Depth Information About Foreclosure Defense

Considering Selling Your Home In A Short Sale Or Loan Modification?

Another option that may be available to families going through a mortgage foreclosure is to sell the home. We are qualified to advise you on this option. If the value of your home is less than what you owe to the bank, sometimes it is possible to negotiate a short sale. This is where the bank allows you to sell the home and they will forgive the balance of what you owe on the loan. The bank may also offer “cash for keys,” which is where it offers some monetary amount to homeowners in exchange for their agreement to enter into a consent foreclosure judgment. These options have serious consequences; while it may sound like a great choice initially, it may not be the best choice for you. It is important to speak with a qualified foreclosure defense lawyer so that you can make an informed decision about what to do.

Fight The Bank With Us At Your Side

Our firm focuses on helping people through their hard financial times. We are a full litigation firm that plans to take every residential mortgage foreclosure case to trial to try to beat the bank. There are valid legal defenses in nearly every foreclosure action, and we will fight to keep you in your home for as long as possible. As South Florida foreclosure defense lawyers, we will thoroughly explain the entire litigation process from beginning to end.

Contact Our Plantation Foreclosure Lawyers To Protect Your Home

Contact us today to speak with qualified South Florida foreclosure defense attorneys. We will discuss all of the options you have available to defend against your mortgage foreclosure action, and we will work with you to try to achieve your goals, whether you would like to try to modify your loan or you want to fight the bank in litigation. For a free consultation, please call us at 754-778-9911 or send us an email today.