Quick version: Kass Shuler does seven things. Three of them are about getting back money that’s owed to you. Four of them are about the business itself — its contracts, its property, its projects, and its fights. Pick the one that matches where you are right now.
The firm has practiced in Tampa since 1978 and represents clients across Florida. Some of our clients place a single invoice. Others place a portfolio. The work is the same either way: tell you straight what you’re looking at, then go do it.
When someone owes you money
Three practices, depending on who the debtor is and how far the file has already gone.
Collections for Creditors
Someone stopped paying. We locate the debtor, find out what they actually have, and use the remedies Florida law allows — demand letters, suit, garnishment, levy, replevin. A demand from a firm that litigates reads differently than one from a firm that doesn’t.
Mortgage Default Services
Default work for banks, credit unions and servicers: foreclosure, loss mitigation, contested foreclosure litigation, bankruptcy, eviction, and REO closings. One team carries a file from first notice through the closing table.
Creditors’ Rights in Bankruptcy
Your borrower filed. That doesn’t end your claim, but it does change every deadline. We protect creditor positions through workouts, restructurings, stay relief, plan objections, adversary proceedings and Section 363 sales.
When the business itself is the matter
Four practices covering the contracts you sign, the property you hold, the projects you build, and the disputes that come out of all three.
Business & Commercial Litigation
Breach of contract, partnership and shareholder disputes, fraud, civil theft, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference. We also defend businesses against consumer claims under the FDCPA, FCCPA and TCPA.
Real Estate
Buying, selling, financing, leasing and developing property — plus the disputes that follow. The firm is an authorized agent for multiple title insurers, so closings, title matters and title claims stay in one place.
Construction Matters
Mechanic’s liens, bond claims, payment disputes, defect and delay claims, licensing complaints and bid protests. We represent contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, developers, engineers and architects — and we’d rather fix the contract before there’s anything to argue about.
Business & Personal Planning
The paperwork that decides how a dispute ends, written before there is one. Formation documents, contracts, credit applications, personal guarantees, and the terms you’ll be glad were in writing.
Not sure which one you need?
Most files start as one thing and turn out to be another. Tell us what happened and who owes what, and we’ll tell you which of the seven it actually is. If it isn’t worth chasing, you hear that too.
Where to start
If you already know what happened but not what to call it, find your situation below:
- An invoice is 90 days past due and the phone calls stopped working
Pre-Suit Resolution & Demand Strategies → - You have a judgment and still haven’t seen a dollar
Judgment Enforcement & Post-Judgment Recovery → - The debtor moved, changed names, or you can’t find the assets
Skip Tracing & Asset Investigations → - You won a judgment in another state and need it enforced in Florida
Domestication of Foreign Judgments → - You paid an insurance claim and someone else caused the loss
Subrogation → - You’re not placing one file, you’re placing a book
Portfolio Recovery Strategy → - Your borrower filed Chapter 7, 11 or 13
Creditors’ Rights in Bankruptcy → - A loan is in default and the file needs to move
Mortgage Default Services → - The property is yours now and the occupants haven’t left
Mortgage Default Services → - A partner, shareholder or vendor broke the agreement
Business & Commercial Litigation → - You finished the job and the general contractor won’t pay
Construction Matters → - You’re closing, leasing or developing and want the documents right
Real Estate → - You’re starting a company and don’t want any of the above later
Business & Personal Planning →
Why clients keep the file here
Most firms that collect debts only collect debts. When the matter turns into a bankruptcy, a title problem, a lien fight or a lawsuit that has nothing to do with the original invoice, the file gets handed to somebody else and you start over explaining it.
That doesn’t happen here. The same firm that files the collection suit handles the bankruptcy when the debtor files, the foreclosure when the collateral is real property, and the litigation when the dispute outgrows the debt. Over four decades of doing all of it in the same building is the reason the handoff isn’t a handoff.
Common questions
Do you only work with banks and big institutions?
No. We represent banks, credit unions, servicers and portfolio buyers, and we also represent operating businesses — contractors, suppliers, and any business that delivered and didn’t get paid. One invoice or ten thousand files, the intake is the same.
We already use a collection agency. Why would we need a law firm?
An agency can call, write and report. It cannot file suit, take a judgment, garnish wages, levy on a vehicle or open a proceeding supplementary. When the agency has run out of remedies, the next step requires a lawyer — and we regularly take placements directly from agencies.
Do you handle matters outside Tampa?
Yes. The firm represents clients statewide across Florida’s circuit and county courts, and appears as creditor’s counsel in all three of Florida’s federal bankruptcy districts.
How do I find out whether a debt is worth pursuing?
Send us what you have — the contract, the invoices, the correspondence, whatever exists. We’ll tell you what we think is collectible, roughly what it costs and roughly how long. If the answer is that it isn’t worth chasing, you hear that too. That answer is worth more to you than an optimistic one.
What happens if the debtor files bankruptcy after we’ve started?
The automatic stay stops collection immediately, and the deadlines that matter start running the same day. Because creditors’ rights in bankruptcy is one of our practices, the file moves down the hall instead of out the door.
Bottom line: seven practices, one firm, statewide Florida. Tell us what happened and who owes what — you’ll get a straight read on it, including the read you might not want.
Talk to us · (813) 229-0900 · 1604 N. Marion St., Tampa, FL 33602