Legal Question in Business Law in Washington
Corporation Bankrupt
Can a corporation give an officer a vehicle as payment for work, when it is getting ready for bankruptcy?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Corporation Bankrupt
I would recommend against it, particularly if the officer is also a shareholder. Where a preferential transfer seems to have taken place, the bankruptcy trustee can avoid it (meaning "cancel it out" and demand that the car be returned.)
Further, if the corporation is about to go bankrupt, the owners and executives should be making sure they do nothing to allow the corporate veil to be pierced. If creditors are able to do that, the executive's personal assets may be at stake. Anything that would give the appearance of pulling assets out of the company before it implodes would raise that risk.
I do not practice bankruptcy law, and a bankruptcy attorney could tell you more, but I am confident that what I have provided here is sound, as far as it goes.