Is it OK to pay myself. Never been paid before.

[Stev]

Our story is in the previous thread. We have been running like crazy with the sole proprietor store.
My Father in Law - One year no pay to the poor guy. and my wife works like crazy there too. At the end of the month there is nothing left for payroll or ourselves.

The only form is the withrawal of 2 thousand or so every 6 months tor tuitions for his son and daughter.

I would like to pay him a W2 pay may be 2K a month.

Is it also OK to pay my wife a reasonable living wage?

[BKOnce]

Yes, nobody should work for FREE. With this bad economy, most businesses went bankruptcy!

[Stev]

Yes, nobody should work for FREE. With this bad economy, most businesses went bankruptcy!

Thank you BK. Would the trustee view this differently. that you never paid before, but now you are paying?

Also is it ok to order from vendors if we intend to file? We think that we should be able to pay some of the orders through the business. Would that be fraud?

[GWBcasualty]

Thank you BK. Would the trustee view this differently. that you never paid before, but now you are paying?

Also is it ok to order from vendors if we intend to file? We think that we should be able to pay some of the orders through the business. Would that be fraud?

I think that once you have retained an attorney (or officially consulted an attorney?) it would be wise to stop payments to vendors. At the 341 the trustee may authorize you to keep running the business and authorize you to buy-and-pay-for inventory, but past invoices must go into BK.

You can still pay them after the case is closed, but not during the process as it would be considered preferential (the trustee would go after the vendors for the money).

If you have NOT retained an attorney, you can do as you please as officially you would be just trying to run your business, keep the vendors happy and try to dig yourself out of a hole.
I would wait at least 4-5 months from the last big payment to a vendor before filing.

[BigJohn]

As for paying vendors, we paid by check COD on orders and a few by debit card. In order to keep the business afloat, we have to buy merchandise. When we had our 341 meeting, there was no mention of this being 'wrong' but then, we have not been confirmed.

As for paying my wife, she gets paid and she gets over time.

[CH33 Paralegal]

business-wise, that's the better way to do it. You should always look at yourself as an employee of your business as well as the owner. Pay youself a paycheck and grow your business, which will grow your paycheck.