Foreclosure relief
Stop a sheriff's sale and keep your home
If your lender has filed a foreclosure in Stark County or anywhere in Northeast Ohio, you probably have more time and more options than you think. Filing Chapter 13 before the sale stops it and lets you catch up over time.
How it works
How Chapter 13 stops a foreclosure
The moment your Chapter 13 case is filed, a court order called the automatic stay stops the foreclosure, including a scheduled sheriff's sale. Your lender can't move forward without the bankruptcy court's permission.
You then propose a plan that repays what you're behind on over three to five years, while you go back to making your regular mortgage payments. Finish the plan and you're caught up, with the house still yours.
The same plan can also stop a car repossession, deal with back taxes, and reduce what you pay toward credit cards and medical bills. See how Chapter 13 works.
Timing matters
Your case has to be filed before the sale date. Ohio's court-based foreclosure process usually takes months, but every week you wait narrows your options. Call as soon as you receive foreclosure papers.
Step by step
From foreclosure notice to caught up
Call us
Tell us the sale date, if there is one, and what you're behind. We look at your income and whether a plan is workable.
We file before the sale
Filing stops the foreclosure and the sale right away.
Your plan starts
You make one plan payment each month, plus your regular mortgage payment.
The court approves the plan
Once the judge confirms the plan, you follow it month by month.
You finish caught up
When the plan is complete, the missed payments are paid and you keep the home.
Common questions
Foreclosure questions
The sale is already scheduled. Is it too late?
Not if we can file before the sale. Filing even shortly before the sale date can stop it. Call right away.
Will Chapter 7 stop a foreclosure?
Filing Chapter 7 pauses the foreclosure, but it doesn't give you a way to catch up on missed payments, so the lender can usually continue afterward. Chapter 13 is built for people who want to keep the house.
What if I can't afford a plan?
We'll tell you honestly. If keeping the house isn't realistic, bankruptcy can still erase what you would owe after a foreclosure and give you time to plan a move.
Can Chapter 13 help with a second mortgage?
Sometimes. If your home is worth less than you owe on the first mortgage, a second mortgage or home equity line may be treated as unsecured debt and largely wiped out through the plan.
Have a sale date coming up?
Call now. The sooner we file, the more options you have.