If you're behind on your mortgage payments, be glad you don't live in Georgia.

There, a lender can take back the keys to your home in as little as 30 days. Lenders don't even have to go through the court system. A newspaper ad informing the public of an upcoming sale suffices.

Here in the Sunshine State, lenders must file a lawsuit to remove homeowners who stop paying on their loans.

This typically doesn't happen until a borrower misses five months of payments, said Timothy Kingcade, a lawyer with Kingcade & Garcia in Miami.

This means foreclosure data may not show the true scope of the mortgage crisis in Florida. Even though the state's foreclosure rate ranks second in the nation, some experts say the situation could get worse as people who have stopped paying are sued by their lenders.

After the lawsuit is filed, it typically takes 60 to 90 days to remove the homeowners. But because foreclosure is a court process in Florida, homeowners have the opportunity to fight.

'It's a lawsuit like any other lawsuit,' Kingcade said. 'Homeowners usually just walk away because they know they can't pay the mortgage, but if they hire a lawyer, they could stay in the home longer.'

That's because the homeowner can stay until the suit is resolved. For example, Kingcade said he has a client who lived in his home 22 months after the lender began foreclosure proceedings.

'That's 22 months of no mortgage payments,' Kingcade said.