Restaurant and Bar (S-Corp) filing BK

[PapaG]

After reading through your forums, I must say, you seem to be a pretty helpful lot. Well, here goes: We own a restaurant and bar in Pennsylvania and have seen our business decline 25-30% in the past few months of this recession. We've accumulated about $125,000 in debt to vendors and a cc company (the cc company has hired a debt collector who's begun to call us at the restaurant). Our prime asset is our liquor license. Its value could pay off our debts and leave us with some money left over, if it were sold at market value. My question is, what guidelines are there for a bk trustee to follow in regards to sale of assets? Must they sell the license in a certain period of time? Can they decide a minimum value an asset is worth and demand at least that price? We're trying to figure out what we might be left with, if anything. Your help is appreciated.

[HHM]

If you simply want to shut down the business, why not sell off everything your self and dissolve the business. Now, in order to do so properly and avoid any fraud claims, you do have to provide notice to the creditors and actually pay them out of the sale assets.

If you have personal guarantees on the debt, you, individually, will still be liable.

As for the BK trustee, they sell items for what they can get for it. It is a "liquidation", trustees are not necessarily going to hold out for top dollar. Also, it would be EXCEEDINGLY RARE for there to be any money left over for the shareholders (you) after the claims are paid off and the trustee takes his percent and pays for costs of administering the BK estate.