Indiana is a judicial foreclosure state. After you fall behind, the lender sends notices and eventually files a complaint in the county court. You are served and have the right to answer and appear. If the lender obtains a judgment, the property is scheduled for a sheriff’s sale, which by statute cannot happen until a waiting period after the complaint has run. Once the sale is held and confirmed, there is no right to buy the home back. The time to act is before the sale, and the earlier the better.
Ignoring the lawsuit does not stop it; it speeds it up by default judgment. Paying a company that promises to “negotiate with your lender” for an up-front fee usually produces nothing but a smaller bank account. Moving out does not end your liability. And trying to pay a little toward the arrears without a written agreement does not stop the clock.
A loan modification, if the lender agrees to one, can lower the payment and fold the arrears into the loan; Indiana’s foreclosure settlement conference process exists to encourage that for owner-occupied homes, and we use it. A reinstatement, if you can come up with the full arrears, stops the case outright. A short sale or deed in lieu ends the loan without a sale on your record. And a Chapter 13 bankruptcy stops the foreclosure immediately and gives you up to five years to catch up while you resume the regular payment.
Filing invokes the automatic stay, which halts the sale and the lawsuit. The missed payments, late fees, and foreclosure costs go into the plan and are paid over its length. You make the regular monthly mortgage payment going forward, and as long as both payments are made, the lender cannot proceed. If the home is worth less than the first mortgage, a second mortgage or equity line can often be stripped off and treated as unsecured. At the end of the plan you own the home with the mortgage current.
Sometimes the honest advice is that the payment was never sustainable. In that case a Chapter 7 or a Chapter 13 can let you stay in the home for months while the case proceeds, eliminate the deficiency balance and any second mortgage, and let you walk away clean rather than chased. We will tell you which situation you are in.
The first meeting is free, in person at either office or by phone or video. Bring whatever you have: bills, collection letters, pay stubs, a tax return if it is handy. We go through the whole picture, tell you whether bankruptcy is the right tool and which chapter, and quote a flat fee with a payment plan. Nothing is filed until you are comfortable with the plan. More about how we handle bankruptcy cases.
Admitted to the Indiana bar at 24, the youngest licensed attorney in the state at the time, Miguel pairs that early start with more than fifteen years helping Northwest Indiana families through injury claims and bankruptcy.
A bankruptcy filed before the sheriff’s sale stops it, even the day before. After the sale is confirmed, the options narrow sharply, so call as soon as you receive a foreclosure complaint, and ideally before.
No. You stay in the home throughout a Chapter 13, and in most Chapter 7 cases you remain in the home for months even if you intend to surrender it.
Sometimes. Lenders are not required to modify, but Indiana’s settlement conference process gives you a formal opportunity to ask, and we handle it. If the lender refuses, Chapter 13 is the backstop.
Call either office or send a message. We will tell you plainly whether bankruptcy is the right tool, and which one.