Claim Surplus Funds After a Home Foreclosure Sale

Start from the property address and pull the public record of the sale. Every foreclosure sale is one of two kinds, and knowing which one you had decides who holds the money and which form you will eventually file:

• Judicial foreclosure — the lender sued, the court confirmed the sale, and the sheriff or court officer ran the auction. The surplus is deposited with the county clerk of court.
• Non-judicial foreclosure — the sale ran under a power-of-sale clause in the deed of trust and was conducted by a trustee. The surplus stays with the trustee, or later with a county official, until claimed.

Each fact you record needs a source you can point to: the sheriff's return of sale, the recorded trustee's deed, the court case docket, or the foreclosure notice you received.

Write the fact sheet on a single page and keep it with your foreclosure papers:

• County and state of the sale
• Sale date, exactly as it appears on the deed or the return of sale
• Winning bid, in dollars
• Case number, if the sale was judicial
• Sale type: judicial (court-confirmed, sheriff's auction) or non-judicial (trustee's sale)
• Source document and recording reference for each fact

The sale type you record here decides every later step: it names the holder of the money, the correct claim form, and the office you file with.