The future of Columbia-based lender HomeGold Financial, as well as its Carolina Investors subsidiary, could be determined within the next month.

A federal bankruptcy judge is scheduled to hear a motion June 23 to replace HomeGold's management with an independent trustee.

An effort to replace the management of Carolina Investors, the Upstate-based unit that owes more than $275 million to thousands of residents, could be discussed at the same time.

Meanwhile, financial services giant Bear Stearns has expressed interest in buying some or all of HomeGold's assets, according to Geoff Levy, Carolina Investors' bankruptcy attorney.

Levy said he was contacted by the New York-based company this week. It is expected to begin reviewing HomeGold financial records next week and could make a decision within a month, he said.

Any sale would have to be approved by the bankruptcy court, which could also decide to liquidate HomeGold another way.

Efforts to reach Bear Stearns and HomeGold officials for comment were unsuccessful.

Pickens-based Carolina Investors, a unit of HomeGold since 1991, closed its doors in March and filed for bankruptcy protection the next month.

The company sold unsecured notes to investors, promising healthy fixed returns it can no longer pay.

Lender HomeGold, which has lost hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years, owes Carolina Investors more than $200 million. It filed for Chapter 11 in March.

An examiner's report released last month recommended HomeGold be liquidated.

Those owed money by the failed financial companies are split as to which move would be best.

The National Federation for the Blind of S.C., which has more than $100,000 invested in Carolina Investors, has requested the management of Carolina Investors and HomeGold Financial be replaced.

Current management has done poorly and a change is necessary to ensure the best chance of repayment to creditors, said federation attorney Katherine Barroll.

That move is opposed by some HomeGold creditors, including individuals who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in Carolina Investors.

A trustee would reduce the chances of another company's purchasing HomeGold and recovering assets, some creditors said, because someone other than the buyer would be in charge of the company.

Attorneys for HomeGold and Carolina Investors also plan to oppose the motion. Appointing a trustee would cost the companies more money, which would hurt creditors, Levy said.

"If you bring in someone new, they've got to start from the beginning," he said. "After a while that starts getting expensive and can eat up a lot of money."

Trustees are usually appointed only if existing management squanders company assets, either willfully or though mismanagement, said William T. Moore, a finance professor at the University of South Carolina.

Short of that, bankruptcy judges are usually reluctant to replace existing management, which has the advantage of being familiar with company operations, he said.

It's not certain how long it will take the bankruptcy court to decide the matter.

Before a judge appoints a trustee in a bankruptcy case it's also necessary to find someone willing to take over, said Stan McGuffin, a bankruptcy attorney with the Columbia firm of Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd.

"Whether or not someone can be found to serve often depends on them knowing they'll be compensated," he said.