What Happens To Leftover Assets After Chapter 7

**mgdtexas** · 09-13-2006, 11:50 PM

I hate to be greedy with the legal advice but this question is related to my other post about my auto loan. I closed my business in January 2005 and filed for bankruptcy in Oct 2005. Since that January I have kept the leftover assets (furniture, fixtures, merchandise) in a storage space. I obtained a loan for working capital in 2002 for the business and as part of the loan agreement made the lender (Capital One) the first leinholder. As far as I know, Capital One is entitled to take posession and dispose of the assets. It's been almost a year since I filed for bankruptcy and almost two years since I defaulted on the loan. I haven't heard a word from Capital One since I informed them I would be filing for br. I've made at least a dozen calls and voice mails to them and can't get a response or even find out who I should be talking to to get this taken care of. Meanwhile it's costing me $150/month to keep up the storage space which has in no small way contributed to my delinquency on the auto loan mentioned in the other post.

Basically I feel stuck in this situation. Should I sell the stuff and hold the money until Capital One someday decides to collect their property? Should I find an auctioneer or liquidator to do it for me? Am I entitled to recoup the approx $2300 in storage fees I've spent over the last 18 months holding on this stuff if I liquidate it myself? The book value of these assets is about $20,000 and I think I could get close to half of that by selling it myself. My main concern is that I don't want to do anything illegal.

One last question... the Capital One loan was subsidized by the SBA. Is it possible that they just wrote off that amount and forgot about me. I wouldn't think so but it's just a thought.

Thank you again for your help.

**Mr. Knowitall** · 09-14-2006, 08:06 AM

I would say that there is a significant chance that the lender has either recovered the amount owed through the government guarantee, has written off the assets, or both. Does that mean you should be comfortable selling them? Hardly. If the lender found out it could conceivably go after the proceeds of the sale and additional sums it claims to be the actual value of the goods. Talk to your bankruptcy lawyer.

This appears to be a Texas matter, so you should look at the Texas laws governing abandonment of personal property.

**mgdtexas** · 09-14-2006, 08:57 AM

Thank you for your quick response to this question. Just to let you know, I called my attorney as you suggested and she said to go ahead and sell the assets but just keep a record of what was sold. She said that given my efforts to resolve the situation and the amount of time that has passed I shouldn't have anything to worry about.

Thank you again for this wonderful website!