Process

As mentioned, when it comes to mortgage foreclosure, typically what happens is that the property in question would go through an auction. The opening bid is the amount of taxes/mortgage expense that is owed. The difference between the sales proceeds and the amount owed in mortgage or tax debt is leftover and held as an unclaimed asset called an excess proceed, surplus fund or tax coverage.

Usually, the county or state will send out a surplus notification letter to the previous owner but since they send these notifications to the last address on file (the foreclosed property), many former owners actually are never informed that they're owed these funds and thus never claim them which leaves them in the hands of the county which overtime will be turned over to the state.

At Silver Lining Relief, we work with the state and legal professionals to help you get the funds that are owed to you on a contingency fee - meaning you pay nothing upfront till after you've received your funds or if we fail to retrieve them on your behalf. Here's how we do it:

• Research and analysis phase: When a property goes into auction by the county, records of the transaction are listed in a database directly from the county's website. After identifying a claim, we thoroughly research the name(s) of the potential claimants, we reach out to notify them and/or their heirs to inform them through phone/email of the claim. 
• Agreement phase: If the claimant(s) are interested in us filing the request to retrieve the unclaimed surplus funds on their behalf, we will send over an agreement form for them to sign and begin the process of reclaiming surplus funds. The agreement form will include the terms and contingency fee percentage.
  
• Verification and reclamation phase: To start, we will review and procure the documents required to retrieve the funds based on the terms set by the county. We will first confirm that the surplus funds are indeed available for the owner/heirs to claim. In this phase, we would also check for outstanding liens that are owed on the property.
• Legal documentation & claim submission phase: At Silver Lining Relief, we also prepare all the legal documents needed to file a claim and handle all the legal documentation which includes paying all legal filing fees associated for you so that you don't have to lift a finger. Once all the legal documents have been filed, we would then notarize the county documents then submit the claim to either the county or state Treasury department for you.
  
• Follow-Up phase: After a claim has been sent, we will periodically follow up with the county or state Treasury department and keep you updated on the progress of the request claims until the claims have been successfully paid out to you. This process can take between a few weeks or months depending on the county/state.
  
• Payout phase: After all is said and done, once the surplus funds have been successfully disbursed to the claimants, we will receive our agreed upon contingency fee.