Pawned property in bankruptcy

If you pawned some of your property before you filed for bankruptcy, but have no obligation to pay back the loan or redeem the property, whoever you pawned it to has possession of the property, and you haven’t redeemed it in a “timely manner”, then the property is not included in your estate.   What is timely is usually determined by state law.  If the property isn’t included in your estate, the pawnbroker may be able to go ahead and sell it, even while the automatic stay is in effect.However, if the property is still part of your estate, the pawn shop will have to obtain the court’s permission to sell the property while your case is still open.  Also, under some provisions of the bankruptcy code, you may be able to avoid the pawn transaction, which means you can render the transaction void.  If the pawn shop doesn’t get permission from the court to sell your property, the automatic stay will keep them from selling it until your case closes.