§ 686.Judgment In Foreclosure Suit - Sale of Real Estate - Lands In Different Counties - Application of Proceeds - Attorney's Fees and Expenses, Taxation of - Putting Purchaser In Possession - Post Judgment Deficiency Order

When a court enforces a mortgage, deed of trust, or other lien, it can render personal judgment for the amounts owed to the plaintiff and to any other lienholder, order the property sold, and either apply the sale proceeds immediately or hold that question for later. Costs, attorney's fees, and expenses get apportioned among the parties according to their interests and collected from the sale proceeds. Where one mortgage covers land in more than one county, each county's own sheriff handles the sale of the land within that county, and the court confirming a foreclosure or execution sale can order a writ of assistance putting the purchaser into actual possession — resisting that writ, or returning to the land afterward without legal authority, is contempt of court.

The section also caps what a lender can collect beyond the sale proceeds. No judgment survives for any unpaid balance after the mortgaged property is sold unless the party owed that balance moves, at or within ninety days of the sale, for leave to enter a post-judgment deficiency order. The court then finds the property's fair market value as of the sale date and enters an order for the difference between what's owed (with interest, costs, and prior liens) and the higher of that market value or the sale price. Miss the ninety-day window, and the sale proceeds are deemed to satisfy the mortgage debt in full, regardless of amount. A separate paragraph lets a defendant sued on a purchase-money debt secured solely by the mortgaged property set off the property's fair market value, less prior liens, against a money judgment sought outside a foreclosure action.