Single Member LLC After Personal Bankruptcy (Ch7)

[joejoebk]

Do I need to establish a new LLC after I file personal bankruptcy (Ch7)?

I established a Single-Member LLC (in MN) in 2009 for a specific business purpose (retail sales). As circumstances kept me from pursuing the business, the LLC never developed beyond establishing the entity and tax ID #'s. Eventually, I filed a personal Chapter 7 bankruptcy and listed my ownership of the LLC in the BK documents. The company had/has no value, but is still "active" and "in good standing" with the Secretary of State.

I have no intent of operating the company as a retail business; However, now that circumstances have improved, I would like to use the LLC to hold real estate investments (possibly with partners, but not necessarily).

My question is:

- Can (or should) I use the LLC that existed pre-bankruptcy? Or do I need to completely dissolve the entity and establish a new LLC for the purpose of holding real estate investments?

Thanks!
-Joe

[justbroke]

My browser ate my response. The bottom line was that the LLC was not bankrupted and that you may want to consult a real estate attorney. The reason for the suggestion is that your LLC's operating agreement will be the most important thing and you may need to amend and restate your operating agreement.

[despritfreya]

As long as your Trustee has abandoned the asset (the membership in the LLC) there is no reason to open a new one as there is no impediment to utilizing the current one. If your case is closed the asset has been abandoned. If your case is not closed you could:

1. Wait for the closing,
2. Ask the Trustee to abandon the membership in the LLC, or
3. Forget about the old LLC and start a new one.

Des.