You pull up into your driveway and as you approach the front door, you notice a piece of paper that has been stuck onto it, red letters legible before you are even within reach of the door knob. What do the letters read? Foreclosure notice. What can a restraining order do?

In that instant, numerous thoughts run through a homeowner’s mind, none of them positive. Flashes of the family thrown out, belongings littered along the front yard and the sidewalk as well as the occasional parted curtain from the neighbor’s house.

To be prepared for this eventuality and to avoid these imaginations from turning into reality, you should become well versed about the temporary restraining order and foreclosure as well as how the two relate to each other. This knowledge will save you a number of blushes should a foreclosure notice happen to find its way onto your door or into your mailbox.

Temporary Restraining Order to Delay Foreclosure

Many law firms specializing in real estate law will seem a great option to help you through this obviously trying time. It, however, does not hurt to approach one when you already know the broad strokes of the issues regarding a temporary restraining order and foreclosure.

Despite the law on foreclosures sounding similar across the United States, the ‘I’s and ‘T’s are respectively dotted and crossed differently in the various states. You should, therefore, get to know which laws apply in your given state.

For example, there are some states that require that the entire foreclosure process be handled in court whereas other American states find it okay for the said process to be conducted in the nonjudicial realm.

In the former instance, it is easier and cheaper to apply for a temporary restraining order because you are already part of a court process of foreclosure initiated by the trustee of sale or the mortgage provider. In the latter instance, you need to sue the lender so that you can appear before a judge and alert him or her to your plight.

Once you are before a judge, you should convince them that you will suffer irreparable harm if the trustee goes ahead and carries out the foreclosure on the property. Getting thrown out onto the street is as irreparable as harm can get in this case.

When the judge has looked at the issues presented by both parties with regard to the temporary restraining order (TRO) and foreclosure, he or she will decide to issue the TRO, ceasing all active energies directed towards foreclosing on the property.

Once the temporary restraining order has been issued, however, the homeowner should not rest on their laurels. This is simply because the key word in temporary restraining order is temporary. The order will only be viable for a short period – usually a few weeks – before proceedings can continue.

The party carrying out the foreclosure usually has little time to issue a response to it because the temporary restraining orders are given without formal notice or a hearing.

So in the event that you have been granted a temporary restraining order, you should use this borrowed time upon which you are living to prepare your case so that you can get a preliminary injunction to halt the foreclosure process for an extended period before getting a permanent injunction to stop the foreclosure for good.