Mortgage Foreclosure Procedures

For legal advise, consult an Attorney! Please do not ask the Clerks for legal advise as they are not qualified to answer any legal questions.

The Foreclosure Court Files are kept in the Civil Division of the St. Lucie County Courthouse, 201 South Indian River Drive, Fort Pierce, FL, until there is a foreclosure sale set. The office is open to the Public from 8AM to 5PM, Monday through Friday.

Court files in which a Foreclosure Sale is set are available for public inspection at the St. Lucie County Courthouse, between 8AM and 5PM, Monday through Friday, and until 10AM the day of the sale.

The Foreclosure Department publishes a Notice of Sale for each case in the Ft. Pierce Tribune, a newspaper of general circulation. The Notice is published once a week for two consecutive weeks before the sale, and appears in the legal ad section.

YOU MUST DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH FOR THE PROPERTY INVOLVED . The Foreclosure Clerks use only the legal description, however, with this description, you can find street address information at the Property Appraiser's Office, 2300 Virginia Avenue, Ft. Pierce, FL. The improvements to property, if any ,can also be found on record in the Property Appraiser's Office.

The status of County Property Taxes can only be checked at the Tax Collector's Office, 2300 Virginia Avenue, Ft. Pierce, FL.

The Clerk's Office assumes no responsibility for any encumbrances (judgments, mortgages, taxes, and other liens) on any property offered on sale. It is in your best interest to have a Title Search done by an attorney or Title Company. However, you may search the Clerk's Official Records at the Clerk's Office, 201 South Indian River Drive, Fort Pierce, FL 34950 .

It is possible you will have to take legal action to get possession of the property. Until this is granted by the Court, you may not have access to the property without permission of the owner.

Be sure the personal property offered for sale will be available to you after Title is issued. The Clerk's Office assumes no responsibility for the availability of any personal property offered for sale.

The Foreclosure Sales may be held any weekday at 11:00AM in the Jury assembly room of the St. Lucie County Courthouse located at 218 S. 2nd St, Ft. Pierce, Florida.

At the sale, bidding is done in increments of $100.00 or more.

The purchaser of property will be issued a deed called a Certificate of Title. This deed contains NO WARRANTIES.

The Certificate of Title will be recorded on the eleventh day after the sale. The defendant has ten days to object to the sale. If the tenth day is a non-business day, the next business day will be treated as the tenth day. If objections are filed, the Judge will rule at a hearing as to whether or not a deed is to be issued. If the defendant files bankruptcy, the Clerk is stayed from issuing a Title or taking any action, pending further Order of the Court.

Acquaint yourself with the Terms of the Sale, Exhibit "C" (following).

Mortgage Foreclosure Sale - Exhibit "C"

Terms of the Clerk's Sale
Edwin M. Fry, Jr., Clerk of Circuit Court
St. Lucie County, Florida

THE TERMS OF THE CLERK'S SALE, UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED BY FINAL JUDGMENT, ARE AS FOLLOWS:

Immediately after each final bid is made, the successful bidder shall post with the Clerk a non-refundable deposit equal to 5% of the final bid.

By 2:00 o'clock today (the day of the bid), the successful bidder must pay the balance of his bid, plus the Clerk's fee, revenue stamps and statutory registry fee, in circuit civil office.

All payments must be cash or cashier's checks drawn on US banks only.

All bids must be in increments of not less than $100.00. State the full amount each time you submit a bid.

IF THE DEPOSIT IS NOT MADE IMMEDIATELY, THE BIDDING WILL BE REOPENED WITH THE SECOND HIGHEST BID.

IF YOU FAIL TO MAKE THE DEPOSIT OF FULL PAYMENT TIMELY, YOU WILL BE REQUIRED TO DEPOSIT $1,000.00 IN ADVANCE OF ALL FUTURE SALES AT WHICH YOU PLAN TO BID.

The Clerk's Office is not responsible for any encumbrances remaining against the property or for the availability of personal property.

Any objections to the sale must be submitted directly to the Foreclosure Department in circuit civil within ten (10) days from the date of sale.

Any person disrupting the sale or not honoring the terms could be found in Contempt of Court.

PROSPECTIVE BIDDERS MUST FILL OUT AN "INTENT TO BID" FORM PRIOR TO 11:00AM ON THE DATE OF SALE. SAID FORM MAY BE SECURED FROM THE FORECLOSURE CLERK IN ROOM 103 OF THE COURTHOUSE. (Or may be printed from this website - click here ).

NOTE: SALE WILL NOT BE HELD UNLESS PROOF OF PUBLICATION HAS BEEN FILED PRIOR TO 11:00AM. Proofs WILL NOT be accepted at sale.