I have a loan on a vacant lot in central Fl. If I ignore the summons what will happen?

I cannot give legal advice without obtaining more information and establishing an attorney client relationship. Please be advised this "answer" does not create any attorney client relationship. However, it is important that you understand that failure to answer a complaint filed against you may allow the plaintiff to obtain a default judgement against you. You do not know what exactly that default judgement would award to them if you never read the complaint. That being said, the "summons" you speak of is I assume the service of process which has a copy of the complaint attached. It is required by the court to be served by the plaintiff on every defendant who owns an interest in the real property that is the object of the foreclosure action. The Service of process is to be delivered to you if they can locate you. This means you are under no legal obligation to "pick it up". The process server is both paid to and should deliver it to you at your home. If you are served read the complaint thoroughly to understand the allegations against you. ( As should your girlfriend. ) If any of the allegations are false or just plain wrong you may have a basis to stop the foreclosure and/or check to make sure they aren't adding any incorrect information such as additional amounts that you do not owe or alleging that your g-friend owes the debt when she clearly did not sign the mortgage. Finally, I will say that in the recent past many lenders have attempted to foreclose on loans that they do not legally own so check the names & dates of the assignment of the promissory note to make sure it says your lender sold the note to the lender that is foreclosing now and check to make sure it was before the date that the foreclosure action was filed. This is important even if you do not want the land because you could later be sued again by another lender saying that they are actually the true holder of the promissory note that you owe. ( Unfortunately, that really happens! )

If you fail to answer the summons/complaint a default will be entered against you clearing the way for the plaintiff to get a final judgment authorizing sale of the property.

If you do not defend, the Plaintiff will obtain a judgment against you in Foreclosure. This will give it the right to sell the property at foreclosure sale, and then to pursue you for a deficiency judgment, which will be the entire amount they claim is due, plus accruing interest, costs, commissions and advances, less what they get for it at or after foreclosure. The deficiency judgment issue has a potential life of 25 years, can be entered and enforced in other states, and can be used to levy on bank accounts, garnish wages etc.

It sounds like you made some sort of error in whatever you did to try to take your girfriend's name off the deed, which would leave her as a titleholder and therefore as a Defendant. Many errors are made in the foreclosure process, therefore while if the law was followed strictly and properly it should not affect her, that may well not turn out to be the cae.

Unfortunately, this foreclosure situation in Florida (and many other states) has turned into a huge mess. In addition to people losing their properties, the way the process is set up is very messy, containing many errors and these can further complicate life for defendants. Then, to make matters worse yet, there are opportunists looking to cash in on distressed property owners, claiming they can help with "loan modification" and other rescue scams. In many states, including Florida, there are laws against this, but it goes on anyway.

The only way to respond that may lead to a decent outcome is to consult a qualified foreclsoure defense attorney. You are fortunate in that Jacksonville Area Legal Aid http://www.jaxlegalaid.org has some extremely experienced and able foreclosure defense attorneys. If you are low income, they can assist you at no charge.