Legal Question in Bankruptcy in Indiana

Involuntary Bankruptcy and more

My father has filed an Involuntary Bankruptcy proceeding against the Corporation that myself, wife and father own. My father is a minority share holder. He filed as a creditor for this proceeding. The Corp. is two years behind on paying our Fed withholding, but we are working on that. All other creditors are no more than 60 days past due. He (I feel unlawfully) transferred our Corp. real estate to himself, without BoD approval and a bunch of other stuff that he has done that we don't understand. We want to get the real estate back and stop this bankruptcy. My dad called our franchisee and was complaing to them about how he doesn't agree with how we are operating. Now the franchisee is threating to pull our contract. That will leave us without an income and seven years of working our butt's off for nothing. The biggest problem is that we absolutley (sp?) cannot afford legal representation. Unless the payments we're very small. My wife and I don't know what to do. The stress level is more than we can handle. But my father always gets what he wants, because he pays people under the table to do his dirty work. He's is a millionaire, so he gets his way. What can we do??? We don't want to lose everything that we have!!


Asked on 7/05/09, 2:27 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
William Nesmith Dunlap & Nesmith, LLC

Re: Involuntary Bankruptcy and more

This is a very tangle situation, and I seriously doubt you will be able to straighten it out without an attorney.

The first issue will be whether the corporation is bankrupt within the meaning of the Bankruptcy Code, and whether the involuntary petition is appropriate.

Next, on what basis did he transfer the real estate? In order for this to be valid, there has to be some sort of authorization for him from the corporation (in the articles, bylaws, minutes--somewhere). Again, you need a lawyer to analyze this.

Next, there is the issue of the appropriateness of his interfering with the corporation's contract for the franchise. This may be actionable, depending on the circumstances.

If you father is a millionaire, he has undoubtedly hired competent counsel, and you need to seek a lawyer who can fight back.

In my view, with these issues, you have very little chance of winning this match on your own.

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Answered on 7/05/09, 1:52 pm


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