Hi Mike, Based upon my past experience I would look at his filing for bankruptcy as a welcome situation but my advice is not to wait...record a Notice of Claim as soon as the timing allows. Assuming that his property is involved it should be posted as an asset. Also, if there is a mortgage on the property say with bank, I assume that the bank is not being paid either and that eventually they will force a sale of the property. When that happens make sure all parties (bank, real estate agency, title company, and any other involved attorney) are aware of the recorded Notice of Claim (NOC). One of these entities may attempt to "scare" you that you can't provide such a document but what's wrong with communication. Make sure they are aware you are following a statute which you can quote if necessary. In the meantime I'd suggest drafting a document which will be the basis for an invoice that will likely be requested by the entity that pays off the Notice of Claim. I also suggest including all costs in the invoice that will include the road maintenance fee, interest at the same rate that your town applies to unpaid property taxes (my idea), recording cost for NOC, recording cost for NOC Discharge, cost of certified mailings and any other cost that your Association incurred in receiving payment-in-full.
I believe you can still follow the NOC route even if you get involved in small claims action. I assume you are comparing the cost of a small claims attorney (I'm guessing several hundred $) with the amount owed. If so, in our case, small claims action would not be worth it.
Feel free to debate any of my thoughts. Its been many months since I wrote about the collection procedure and I could easily have mis-spoke!
Good luck,
P.Dunn