MISSING BOD.. Well, not really.

We have a peculiar situation.

We have a board member who has for whatever reason filed Chapter 13 or 7 ( not quite sure as of yet ) and has gone well.. missing.

Our BOD has a rental unit with renters in it still, has not paid dues in over a year and literally has disappeared. We got an email prior to last months meeting explaining she is resigning and gave the emotionally filled issues she is dealing with. ( sad but life is bad sometimes )

Saying that, I am new on our BOD this year for the first time in awhile. I have not served in a few years. Our BOD who is "missing" had more than a few key items that were needed to be relinquished for continuation HOA business. Surprisingly enough, none of our other board members had access to key items and now one important legal document is "lost".

I have personally emailed and called this BOD who quit. She is not returning calls, or emails and in fact lives out of state while her tenants live here. i suspect the unit will be forclosed upon or perhaps lost in the bk.

What can we do legally to try to obtain whatever documents etc that this "former" BOD has in her possession. ?

Take this as a lesson to be a bit more proactive in your record keeping. What if your HOA burned down to the ground? How would you produce those documents? It's time to consider a better method of keeping records. It can be electronic, off-site, or in an assigned locked room. We had a closet in the clubhouse for our documentation locked up. Only board members had keys. Our bookkeeper kept the other portion of records.

You should be able to reproduce most records of your HOA you will need. Just need to find out the correct source. Even IRS records should be reproducible. The bank should have a record of your financial transactions. Enough information that should get you to the point where you want to be.

The issue here has nothing to do with the former board member's bankruptcy. It has to do with documents and other association property that is in her possession. Nothing in the OP indicates that the association was actually served with a notice of bankruptcy nor does it indicate that the association is named as a creditor.

Filing for bankruptcy is not a get-out-of-jail-free card. The petitioner remains subject to all other laws. The only thing that filing does is prevents creditors from continuing collection efforts. Recovering association property from a former board member is not a creditor collection effort.

Fiona,

May I ask what document you are talking about when you say one important legal document is missing?

If it's an agreement between the Association and a member, ask the member if they can provide you with a copy of what they have.

If a lawyer was involved, contact the attorney. They always keep copies.

If it's something that would have been filed with the courts, ask the courts for a copy.