Bankruptcy

Robert,

I am not an attorney but I play one on TV...

Seriously, being in my 26th year of business I have had some experience with these matters. Chapter 7 means they have nothing; their done business wise. Since their case was dismissed that means they just lose the protection of the court and "permission" to skate on their responsibilities.

File in small claims and go after the person for the $4k. Make sure you have the Sheriff serve them at their residence and work (if they still go somewhere). Worth the double service charge to embarass them 2X.

This could convince them to pay-off or settle with you B4 the court date which is what you want. If not go to small claims; with your case and documents in order and get a judgement and go from there. Good Luck, this is the best way to get anything outta them...

Why pay an attorney $350-$500 per hour to try and collect $4k. Small Claims is the way to go.

Dave # 3463

Thanks for the input Dave!

I think small claims is the way to go. We also might send the invoices to the parent company (capitol investment firm) that bought the company and drove it into the ground in one year.

I am friends with the previous owner who stayed on with a two year contract, so I will get some input from him in the next few days.

R.

There are lawyers that deal with collection issues all the time. They usually get a cut of what they collect so you should have no out of pocket expense. If the BKed outfit has gone total belly up and there is nothing left, move on. The secured lenders got first dibs on the remains. If you're unsecured, you get nothing or a few cents on the dollar. That sounds like the cae here. I think if you are an accural based, you can deduct it but talk to your tax guy first.

if you decide not to go the small claim route, or if you go the small claim route and cannot collect the debt/judgment, you can still get some feel good revenge.

you can file an irs form that tells the irs that you forgave the debt, and that is taxable income to the debtor. so, if you can't get your money, at least uncle sqam will get some tax.

most recipients of irs form no. ???, ignore it, ha ha big mistake, nasty irs letters, interest and penalties follow.

sorry i do not offhand know the irs form number, but either a trip to the irs website or your cpa can provide it.

of course be careful if this is a debt owed to you as an individual, as i suspect you need to provide your ssn on the irs form, but perhaps there is a way around that, but i don't know it.

so if you can't collect..have some fun with the deadbeat

nazgul

R,
I feel your pain. My wife and I spent 3 years trying to get our contractor to court. We went throught the BK stuff with him, chpter 7 & a chp 13 attempt. Long story short, we won in CA Superior court and was notified by mail. Of course the contractor was long gone and we cant find him. Guess what we won? The price of a really good pantera, $70,000 and he's no where to be found. I've looked for 4 years. I think that I will try to do the IRS bad debt thing now, but I have to research more.

Good luck

Oh, Dave what actor on TV?

Not an actor...

That's was a line from an asprin commercial some time ago... "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV."

Just a business guy with 26 years in.

Dave

gotch ya ....

quote:

Originally posted by nazgul:
so if you can't collect..have some fun with the deadbeat

nazgul

The only thing that makes me cranky is that this isn't some broke guy that I want to squeeze money from, it is a multi-billion dollar capital investment group that bought the business a year ago before running it into the ground.

R.