Thousands of verified Experts are ready to answer your specific questions 24/7.
Satisfaction is guaranteed and you pay your Expert only if you are satisfied.
Just type your detailed question and click "Get an Answer."
In minutes you'll get a response from an Expert. You can always ask follow-up questions.
Happy with your answer? Just click "Accept" to pay your Expert.
I am a partner in a small business (LLC, est. in WashDC) that has just "gone under" (i.e., we had our franchises taken away for non-payment of Royalties to the franchisor). The Franchisor just got a judgment (currently under appeal, but who knows?) against us personally for $135,000. We also have about $200,000 in credit card debt, and another $50,000 or so owed to Chrysler for vehicles which have been returned (re-poed). Franchisor's judgment occurred just as we were in the midst of a Chapter 11 Reorg. and just yanked the rug from beneath us, leaving us no way to pay, even reduced payments, to our creditors. I am married, but my wife's signature is not on any business related documents (i.e., franchises). She is employed in her own right and we have a joint bank account. I only have retirement income (Civil Service Retirement and SSI); and a small brokerage account. Our home is in both names.A 2003 Infiniti is in my name; as well as 2000 HD MC. How can I best protect myself?
State/Country relating to Question: DC Already Tried: Actually, we've employed sort of a "rope-a-dope" approach: We were right in the middle of a Chapter 11 Reorganization when our "lawyer" missed ANOTHER filing and another court date, and erroneously answered questions to the Court, such as telling them we had "...No current liabilities..." and not responding timely, etc. etc. As a result, our franchisor was granted his filing which jerked our franchises from us, leaving us with no way to generate revenue...overnight. We have been kicked out of Chap. 11, and have a hearing on Aug. 18 (our "lawyer" is on vacation), at which time, I guess, the court could order us into Chapter 7. We have a lot of unsecured debt, of which I am the predominant guarantor of any "personally guaranteed" liabilities. To make matters worse for me, my partner doesn't have a lot of incentive NOT to also file Chapter 7 (personally) if we aren't allowed some possibility of continuing ops. I would like to avoid personal Chap. 7 if possible; if not, i'd like to get mess resolved before my wife retires in Dec. 2011; and for this to have the least possible negative impact on me personally.
Thanks for your question. Both file together here. You may qualify here for either Chapter 7 or 13. You woudl be able to hopefully discharge large judgment here and also the credit cards and deficiency suit for cars as well. You certainly are a great candidate here. You really need to take your judgments, debts, etc and get free consult here with local bankruptcy lawyer. There may be issue of timing here to maximize wiping of the slate here to make sure you get rid of all the judgments and creditors here.Even though wife is not on business here if she is on repo/deficiencies here and other debts to me she files jointly with you in this matter. You own much jointly so she will need protection here as well that bankruptcy affords. It may be possible here to keep house if you can rid of a lot of the rest of this if you can handle payments. Again somethign to discuss with local bankruptcy lawyer.I wish you good luck resolving all of this.
Here is much reference to personal filing here and the steps involved..http://www.uscourts.gov/bankruptcycourts/bankruptcybasics.html
Lawyer
25 years in civil, criminal, family, probate, elder issues, and administrative law