Small claims judgment collection attempts for a surprised new corp. President

[mako482]

A little complicated perhaps, but here goes.

My father owned a painting company which was incorporated, he was the president and myself listed VP. I was leaving the business for a new career when my father became ill with cancer, so I stuck around and helped him and my mother out keeping the business going for him. He passed and now I am the President of this dying business that I have been trying to get away from ever since.

Anyway, I received a collections call the other day, apparently while I was deployed with the USAF Reserves back in 2007 my father lost a small claims court case to a customer, now they are looking for me to pay it.

This business is dead, I am looking for work, my wife is out of work, and there is simply no money to pay this thing I had no part in.

So my question is this, what do I do? Can I resign from the corporation and separate myself from this? Can the corp file for bankruptcy? Can I be held personally reliable?

There are no assets to speak of, and like I said the business is all but dead. What can they do to me if I cannot pay? Anything?

 

[tpajet]

That's the point of being incorporated is that they cannot go after you personally. Unless it's an LLC, in which case they can have a limited reach. But with more than one officer in the corp. I'm guessing that's not the case. If you are looking to get out of this, and not continue the business, then just let the company die.