dunebuggy and motorcyle half rebuilt

[JimH]

I have a hobby of rebuilding wrecked vehicles. Currently I have a dunebuggy and motorcycle in pieces in my garage. They would be worth roughly $10,000 if they were put back together. If I was to sell the more costly parts - motors, tranys, etc. I would probably clear $4,000. What is the chances of the trustee wanting these disassembled vehicles? These are things that would not sell at a garage sale unless it was the right person looking for that particular part. These are parts that would sell only at a swap meet or ebay.

Also, I have titles to them so they would be considered vehicles in the paperwork, which would put up a red flag to begin with. A friend suggested I get the titles converted to salvage titles which basically means they are no longer a vehicle. Really in the condition they are in they aren't vehicles. Is this a good Idea? Then just list them as junk vehicles on the paperwork.

[StaciMM]

Converting, in my opinion, is a bad idea. Makes it look like you're up to something and will draw more attention rather than less. Current condition is taken into consideration for value. But, if its worth $4000 in parts and you don't have an exemption for it, you might not want to get too attached...

Its hard to accept that you might lose things-but keep the end in mind. Is losing $4000 worth of stuff a fair exchange to get out from under the debt? (And, if your trustee gets something out of the parts, he may be less interested in the ring.)

[JimH]

Converting, in my opinion, is a bad idea. Makes it look like you're up to something and will draw more attention rather than less. Current condition is taken into consideration for value. But, if its worth $4000 in parts and you don't have an exemption for it, you might not want to get too attached...

Its hard to accept that you might lose things-but keep the end in mind. Is losing $4000 worth of stuff a fair exchange to get out from under the debt? (And, if your trustee gets something out of the parts, he may be less interested in the ring.)

I just had a meeting with two attys and the previous owner of my company to discuss how a personal bk would affect the company. From what the atty's are telling me, my company would most likely not be dragged into the bk since it has a negative net worth. The corp owns both of my vehicles (fully paid for ), which I use in the everyday operation of business. The only way the trustee could touch the assets of the corp (equipment / vehicles) is if all of the corp assets were liquidated and all the corp debt was paid first. This would serve no purpose since my personal debtors would gain nothing from this.

This frees up my vehicle exemption ($1,000) to be used for one of these two vehicles. I paid $1,000 for the wrecked Buell motorcycle so most likely this is what I will claim as exempt. The trade in value of the bike is $4,200 and the parts are worth about $2,000 so it's a stretch. Luckily it's in pieces and most likely he won't want to pursue the difference - especially since he probably has no idea what the parts are worth. The dunebuggy is truly junk and I've beat it to death. If he really wants it, he can have it. I could get $2,000 from the parts with a little effort but hopefully he'll see this as junk of no value. In an auction, I wouldn't expect to see FMV of the parts.

The ring is an interesting point. It was bought by the corp so the atty's do not think the ring is at risk. I stumbled into a very grey area since my personal creditors have suffered no lose by the purchase of the ring. It may not even have to be disclosed. I'm letting them decide that.

[JimH]

Yeah, I'm probably worrying too much about what the common person sees as junk. It all looks like gold to me since I am a collector of the finer things in life. Who needs art work and stocks when you can be up to your armpits in vw and harley parts.

[SinkingFast]

Scammer,............. You continue to amaze me!

I am worried about a stupid 40 year old boat. Hubby's Uncle bought it and owned it for years and years. When he got too sick to go fishing any more, he gave it to Hubby's Dad. Several years later, Hubby's Dad gave the boat to us. When we titled it with our State, the boat, motor, trailer, and troll motor only had a value of $100.

Knowing we were going into a rental situation, with no room to store the boat, and due to its age, and need for repairs, I traded it to a neighbor for his help in fixing up our house for sale. The neighbor painted in trade for the boat. I gave him the titles and thought we were done with it. Guess what. Neighbor never retitled the boat, motor, trailer, or troll motor. He took a current tag off another trailer to tow the boat to a private property lake, and that's where the boat is now. As far as the State knows, we still own that stinking old boat.

We are trying to figure out what we are supposed to do about that. You know you gotta disclose all property transfers w/i a year of filing BK. The neighbor has offered to give us an affidavit stating he is in possession of the boat. But we don't know if that will satisfy the court. Since we've just found out about this, we didn't know to ask attnys during Consults about their thoughts on this situation. Blech!

[SinkingFast]

Jim,.......... I've seen BK petitions on PACER that list similar types of property to what you have. The attny put next to nothing in the way of value on the vehicles along with a description. They'll say, "car does not run", "car has significant body damage", "vehicle needs various repairs" types of things. When they've stated the need for repairs, I've seen the attny list a litany of things that needs to be done all to reduce the values I'm sure. I've even seen values as low as $100 and $200 on those types of vehicles.

[LostOne0069]

Take pictures of the piles of parts to show the trustee if he asks what condition they're in.