Legal Question in Business Law in Illinois

You really should contact the lawyer who handled the closing on the sale of the business as he or she would have the best knowledge of what remedies may be available to you, If he or she is no longer around or you did not use an attorney at that time to protect you, you need to hire one now to review all of the documents and to determine what recourse you have. The fact that it is a private contract does not provide you with the ability of pursuing someone who has filed for bankruptcy. Based on the information provided, I can not give you guidance on the statute of limitations.

Thank you for your question. The direct answer is that if the buyers' file bankruptcy, that would likely extinguish their obligation to pay you. If you do indeed finance the purchase, you will want to structure it as secured debt - that is, secured (ala a mortgage) against the assets of the business. This will provide you with the opportunity to regain possession of the assets in the event they file bankruptcy. However, recouping the funds owed to you under the contract would be unlikely. The contract for sale should be specific as to the secured nature of the obligation. I could help you with this. Feel free to contact me via email should you have any further questions; [email protected]