Service detail
Competing-Claim Defense
Surplus funds attract more than one claimant. Lienholders, second mortgage holders, HOAs, judgment creditors, and sometimes the auction buyer will file against the same money. If someone has filed against funds that belong to you, this is what we do.
Check for fundsWhat this is
When surplus funds are on deposit, the court gives notice, and notice attracts filings. Second mortgage servicers, HOAs with recorded assessments, judgment creditors, taxing authorities, and occasionally the auction purchaser will each put in a claim against the same deposit.
Some of those claims are legitimately senior to yours and will be paid first. Many are not: liens released years ago, debts already satisfied, judgments past their enforcement period, assignments the filer cannot document.
A court decides on the record in front of it. An unopposed stale claim looks the same as a valid one, and gets paid. This section of the work is answering those filings with title evidence, payoff records, and releases, and appearing at the hearing where disbursement is decided.
Who files against your surplus
Second mortgage and junior lienholders
A remaining balance on a loan recorded after the first mortgage.
Often senior to the former owner — but only if the lien was still valid and unreleased at the sale.
HOA and condo associations
Recorded assessments, late charges, and collection costs.
Senior only to the extent the assessment lien attached and survived; amounts are frequently overstated.
Judgment creditors and tax liens
A recorded money judgment or a tax lien against the owner.
Tax liens usually rank high. Judgments depend on recording date and whether enforcement has lapsed.
The auction purchaser
A refund or credit tied to a defect in the sale or the title delivered.
Rarely senior. These claims turn on the terms of sale rather than on a lien.
Other heirs, or a party claiming to be one
A share of the estate that owns the surplus.
Not a priority question but an estate question, decided by the will or the intestacy statute.
What we actually do here
Audit
Every competing filing, its exhibits, and the chain of assignment behind it.
Verify
Lien priority and payoff amounts against the recorded title and current statements.
Challenge
Claims that lack standing, were released, were satisfied, or are out of time.
Coordinate
Contracted counsel where the court sets a contested disbursement hearing.
Typical amount preserved
$6,000 — $150,000
This range describes surplus kept in the claimant's hands rather than paid out to a competing filer. What drives it is how much of the competing claim survives scrutiny: a released second mortgage removes the whole demand, a valid one removes none of it.
Range, not a promise. Individual results depend on the record in your case.
Our process
01
We search the records
We pull the sale record, the docket, and the surplus ledger for the county. It costs nothing and obligates you to nothing.
02
We confirm you're the rightful claimant
Deed, title history, identification, and where the owner has died, the estate record naming every heir with an interest.
03
We prepare and file the claim
We file a response to each competing claim in the disbursement proceeding — priority analysis, payoff and release evidence, and standing objections — and contracted counsel appears at the hearing where one is set.
04
The county or court pays you
Payment is issued on the disbursement order. Our 30% fee is deducted at that point and never before. No recovery, no fee.
*Our fees include the legal support given by our law partners who represent our clients to claim their surplus.
Want us to check the record for you?
A records search costs nothing and puts you under no obligation.
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