Legal Question in Business Law in California

Re: Am I liable for credit/bank accts for a Corp. i resigned from? Re:Guarantor

The question and the "right" answer are more complicated than it might seem; there is probably no "yes" or "no" to either the credit card or the guarantor aspects.

I would start out by accepting the idea that you may very well be liable for both the corporate guarantees and the credit card, then by looking for defenses. Here are a few possibilities:

1. The automatic stay of your ex's bankruptcy and his ultimate discharge may affect the creditors' rights to pursue you now, or in the future.

2. The property-settlement aspects of your divorce should be reviewed for possible impact.

3. Passage of time may have caused the credit card debts to become uncollectable either through the statute of limitations or a modification in the loan terms that would extinguish your guarantee.

4. If the corporation is still in business and not bankrupt itself, it may be liable, either primarily or due to a duty to reimburse you.

5. Although your condition (psychoses or whatever) probably didn't render you incapable of making a contract, the remote possibility that it did should be explored.

6. If the corporation is in bankruptcy too, the stay on collection of its debts might act as a stay on collection against you as well - an attorney who practices in the area of bankruptcy could easily tell you - I know little to nothing about bankruptcy.

A lot of the planning as to what to do about this set of problems would depend upon the relative size of the claims and whether they are being presented by the original creditors or whether the claims are held by a speculator who bought them for cents on the dollar. It would also be useful to read the terms of the guaranty itself, to see whether it is a continuing guaranty, whether any security was pledged, etc.

Sorry I can't be more specific, but I do think there is a good possibility that these claims can be enforced against you.

Re: Am I liable for credit/bank accts for a Corp. i resigned from? Re:Guarantor

Guarantors are liable for the bills they guarantee. You may have defenses that you left the company, etc., but they aren't likely to stop you from being sued. You'll have to raise them in defense of that suit. Whether the defenses succeed will depend on all the facts and whether your attorney is able to prove them. Get an attorney now to try to resolve this early, rather than later after spending a ton of money in litigation. He may be able to compel the company to provide or pay for your defense, but I wouldn't hold my breath on that. If they are broke/BK, you are on your own. This might force you into BK as well, so investigate that before spending defense money.