Legal Question in Business Law in California
Receiving Money
If I owned a business and closed it then filed bankruptcy and a year later I am still receiving payments from my customers can I cash the checks and keep the money?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Receiving Money
Maybe. Maybe not. You should cheerfully pay a real lawyer for an opinion about this. If your business was an asset or otherwise part of the bankruptcy, then the business account receivables should have been disclosed, and it would have been up to the Chapter 7 trustee to administer or abandon the asset. If the trustee abandoned the asset, then you can defend keeping the customer payments. If the asset was never disclosed, then the trustee or creditors could make you cough up the money or face punitive consequences or both. If the amount in question is not very much, then apply the Big Ten officiating rule: No Harm, No Foul.
Re: Receiving Money
Your question doesn't clarify whether the business filed bankruptcy or whether you did. If the business went bankrupt, then the payments should probably be going to the bankruptcy estate for payment to the business's creditors. If you personally went bankrupt, you may still need to hand the payments over to the bankruptcy trustee, but whether you need to do so will depend upon specific details of your case.
If you had a lawyer for the bankruptcy, you should probably ask her about these payments.
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