Do You Need a Third-Party Company to Claim Excess Proceeds in Ohio?
Losing a home to foreclosure is already a difficult experience. What many Ohio homeowners do…
If an Ohio property sells at foreclosure for more than the total amount needed to satisfy the mortgage, liens, taxes, and costs of the foreclosure, excess funds may remain after the sale. That money may be described as foreclosure surplus funds, surplus proceeds, or surplus funds. They may also be referred to as excess proceeds, excess funds, unclaimed foreclosure funds, or residue remaining. Different courts, county offices, attorneys, claimant finders, and fund recovery companies may use different terminology for essentially the same category of money.
But regardless of what the funds are called, the important questions are whether money remains from the foreclosure, where it is being held, and who is legally entitled to recovery from a claim.
So, how long do you have to claim foreclosure surplus funds in Ohio? There is no single deadline that applies neatly to every case. Ohio law includes important 45-day, 90-day, and three-year periods, but the type of foreclosure, the County where it was filed, the date of the sale, and the date the sale was confirmed all affect the availability and location of the proceeds.
Under the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 2329.44, when excess funds remain after a judicial sale, the officer making the sale must deliver the remaining balance to the Clerk of the Court that issued the order of sale within 45 days after confirmation of the sale. The statute therefore establishes a timeline for transferring the excess proceeds from the officer conducting the sale to the Clerk responsible for holding the funds.
The 45-day period is not a deadline for the former property owner to claim the money or complete the surplus funds recovery process. Rather, it governs when the officer making the sale must turn the excess proceeds over to the Clerk following confirmation. From there, separate notice, disposition, and claim procedures determine what happens to the funds and how an entitled claimant may recover them.
Ohio law also establishes procedures for notifying a judgment debtor that foreclosure surplus funds are being held. Under ORC 2329.44, if the funds remain unclaimed for 90 days after the last required notice attempt, the statute provides for further disposition of the money.
That distinction is important: 90 days does not necessarily mean the money disappears or that all rights to it automatically expire. Instead, the funds may move somewhere else.
In our experience reviewing older Ohio foreclosure surplus funds, the age of the foreclosure does not necessarily answer whether the money remains recoverable. One of the first questions is often not simply “When did the foreclosure occur?” But rather: “Where did the money go?”
Tax foreclosure excess proceeds require a separate analysis. Under ORC 5721.20, certain proceeds transferred to the county treasury may remain available to the former owner for three years after the county receives them. After that period, the statute provides for forfeiture of unclaimed funds.
Other foreclosure and forfeiture proceedings may involve different statutory procedures. For that reason, an Ohio excess proceeds deadline should not be presumed solely from the date appearing on the foreclosure docket.
Ohio statutes establish the framework, but questions such as “how to claim surplus funds from closure” and “how long do you have to claim foreclosure surplus funds in Ohio” cannot always be answered from one statute alone. The practical handling of funds can vary depending on the type of proceeding and the county involved.
Money may move between the clerk, the county treasury, and other governmental offices. Certain tax foreclosure proceeds may move relatively quickly, while unclaimed foreclosure funds in Ohio remaining from mortgage foreclosures can remain identifiable much longer than someone might expect.
This is why an older foreclosure should not automatically be dismissed as “too old” without first determining what happened to the proceeds.
There is an equally important issue that is frequently overlooked: the existence of money is not the same as entitlement to receive it.
A county record, foreclosure docket, or claimant finder may identify $25,000 in excess proceeds. That does not necessarily establish that the former homeowner is entitled to the entire $25,000—or even that the former homeowner is the proper claimant. Subordinate mortgages, judgment liens, competing ownership interests, deceased owners, heirs, estates, divorce decrees, governmental claims, and other lienholders can affect who is legally entitled to the proceeds and the priority of their claims.
Finding the money is therefore only the first step. Determining who gets the money can require a review of the foreclosure case, ownership history, liens, distribution orders, and applicable Ohio law.
Foreclosure surplus funds are money left over after a foreclosed property is sold and the money from the sale is used to pay what is owed.
For example, imagine a home sells at a foreclosure sale for $300,000. If the mortgage, other approved debts, taxes, and foreclosure costs total $250,000, then there would be $50,000 left over.
That $50,000 is called a foreclosure surplus or surplus funds. They are also sometimes called excess proceeds or excess funds.
For certain tax foreclosure situations, Ohio Revised Code 5721.20 provides a separate process for surplus funds recovery. The former property owner/judgment debtor may be entitled to the remaining funds, but other parties with legally enforceable claims or liens may have an interest in the proceeds depending on the circumstances and priority of their claims.
The easiest way to find out whether you have foreclosure surplus funds is to look at the court case for the foreclosure and check what happened to the sale proceeds. Here’s a simple step-by-step:
The clerk is also required to notify the former property owner about the balance and how to claim it, but you can also contact the clerk voluntarily if you do not want to wait for their call.
Depending on the type of foreclosure, you may need to file a motion and argue the motion at a scheduled hearing, or you may need to present forms to an appropriate County office.
In either event, and to avoid errors and delay, we strongly recommend communicating with counsel, like MPC LAW, and offer reasonable flat rates for our services.
Ohio law does not necessarily require you to hire an attorney to pursue foreclosure surplus funds. But determining that money exists is often the easy part. Establishing your legal entitlement and obtaining the funds can be a different matter. Depending on the Court and circumstances, recovering the funds may require a motion, supporting documentation, notice to interested parties, and a hearing.
MPC LAW handles this process for Ohio property owners with a claim to excess proceeds. Matthew P. Curry can review the foreclosure case, determine where the surplus funds are being held, evaluate competing claims, and pursue the necessary Court order or County application for distribution.
MPC LAW offers flat-fee representation for foreclosure surplus proceeds, providing clients with a defined cost for legal representation rather than an unknown hourly bill or a substantial percentage of the recovery charged by some recovery services. If you believe money may remain from your foreclosure—or you have been contacted by someone claiming that funds are available—contact MPC LAW before signing an agreement or attempting to navigate the claim process yourself.
