Arvin, CA Bankruptcy Law Firms & Lawyers

I am not sure that I follow your chain of events, but if you didn't have a bankruptcy case number before the sale took place, I don't see you being protected by the bankruptcy stay.

You cannot sell or buy valuable assets without at least approval from the chapter 13 trustee and the court. You need to work with your attorney. If you do not have an attorney you need to get one. In Arizona, debtors who do not have attorneys have less than 2% of chance that their chapter 13 will be successful.

In giving you this information, I'm going to make the assumption that you formed a corporation or LLC for the business. If the business files chapter 7 bankruptcy, its assets will be liquidated for the benefit of creditors. It may be possible to keep the property in a bankruptcy reorganization (chapter 11) case, but if it is not profitable this may not be feasible. Since you guaranteed the debts, you would also need to file personal bankruptcy or else the creditors would be able to collect from you personally. There are exemption laws that allow you to keep a house and car in your personal bankruptcy, up to certain limits. But if the cars belong to the business it would be liquidated in the corporate case. If you transfer property to a family member or anyone else without full consideration paid to you, this is fraudulent. The bankruptcy court can reverse the transfer and you could be denied a discharge of your debts. You can file even if you owe business taxes, but they may or may not be eliminated by your bankruptcy case.