At the Law Office of Ira J. Metrick, we receive and review all notices our clients receive during the New Jersey Foreclosure Process. We provide explanations of the notices to our clients and answer questions about how the notices affect the foreclosure process, including the Motion for Entry of Final Judgment.
What is a Motion for Entry of Final Judgment in NJ?
If your lender is filing a Motion for Entry of Final Judgment, this means that they are asking the Court to set the exact amount owed, so that they can schedule a Sheriff Sale. A Final Judgment is entered in three steps:
- Step 1. Your lender will send a Fair Foreclosure Act Notice to give you, the homeowner, one last chance to pay the arrears. This notice will say that your lender intends to apply for Final Judgment. However, if you send a letter within 10 days to say that you have a reasonable likelihood of getting the funds to reinstate, your lender will wait an additional 45 days to give you a chance to pay.
- Step 2. Your lender will submit the Motion for entry of Final Judgment. This includes all the proofs of the amount due and copies of the note, mortgage, assignments, and any modifications. You will receive notice that you have 10 days to object to the amount due if you believe it to be incorrect. (You normally have more than 10 days)
- Step 3. About 30 days after the application/motion for Final Judgment is submitted, it will be reviewed and if there are no obvious errors, it will be approved. Once Final Judgment is granted, your lender can apply for a sheriff sale. The amount of time from the final judgment to sale varies in each county. We maintain an informal list of time frames for each county. You can contact your county sheriff’s office to get more accurate information.
I Received a Notice of Motion for Entry of Final Judgment. What Should I Do?
It is important to remember that although a Final Judgment sounds like the end, you still have time to save your home. You have the right to file a Motion to Vacate the Final Judgment and ask the Court to permit you to file an Answer and defend the foreclosure, if you can show excusable neglect for not answering the complaint when it was served, and a meritorious defense to their right to foreclose.
After Final Judgment, you can still get a loan modification, but it is critical that you act quickly to have the best possible chance. At the Law Office of Ira J. Metrick, we can:
- Conduct a thorough analysis of your eligibility for a loan modification.
- Determine if you are eligible for a loan modification, and we can give you an estimate of the modification payment terms.
- Review your foreclosure to see if there are grounds to file a motion to try to fight the foreclosure.
Each notice you receive can affect the foreclosure process. If you need to know what a specific notice means, the Law Office of Ira J. Metrick can assist you by explaining them to you. We also offer representation to receive all of your notices in our office, and then forward them to you with explanations.