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Disclaimer:
The following article contains tips and suggestions for
conducting an investigation. Laws vary from one region
to the next, and what is legal in one state/country may
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Preliminary
facts regarding an asset search:
Now
there may be a number of reasons someone is hiding his or
her assets from you. One of the biggest reasons may be in
order to con you, by taking charity or loan that they have
no intention of repaying. Another common reason would be in
the event of a deadbeat parent or spouse who owes child-support
or alimony payments.
The
easiest way is to locate assets via public records, however
you will need to know a little something about public records.
You
will need a person’s name and address at least before
you start searching public records. In many European countries,
just the name of the person will suffice. The first step is
discovering the person’s real identity, knowing who and
what he or she really says they are. It is only then will
you be able to find out what they own. The best way is to
start gathering intelligence.
You
will need to find out what work your subject does and where
he works as well as where he or she really lives. You can
often find out this information via a pretext telephone call,
however before making such a call, verify if making such
calls is legal in your area - in the United States pretexting
is illegal. Deadbeats are no
longer able to hide from courts. However people who are deliberately
hard to find and don’t want to repay their debts have
improved at hiding without leaving a paper trail.
Many
of these people will usually put the assets in to a relative’s
name such as in their son’s name or mother’s name,
or even at times in the name of people whom they think they
can trust, which will make it near impossible to trace any
ownership to these people. If you suspect a deed transfer
then a country civil search should be conducted to find out
about any transfers.
Knowing
where and how assets are located have been valued by many
people such as investors, creditors, government entities as
well as potential lenders. The IRS or Internal Revenue Service
is the largest creditor in the United States, their field
agents along with CID agents work to locate assets in order
to satisfy liens, tax, levies fraud as well as tax evasion
matters. It is the job of these and other similar organizations
to know your worth before they deal with you.
Professional
skip tracers begin their investigation of a subject by first
compiling and gathering data about the person’s identity,
as well as employment history as well as living and dead relatives
etc. in order to profile the subject’s financial character
and status. In initial searches they may locate credit as
well as mortgage data.
Check
the National Death Index
You
will need to start by first checking death records to find
out when an individual passed away. Because if an estate was
filed it is very likely that it was filed where the person
passed away, you may need to visit the court house for details.
You will need to find out if there was a will, if there was
then it should be on file, and would be filed at the local
courthouse.
Discover
your subject’s Income or Wages
Income
is another asset, so you will need to discover a person’s
income. Now whether your subject is filing for divorce or
is going to collect a judgment or even child support, you
will need to find out exactly how much property and possessions
your subject has. You need to know that a judgment passed
is not a debt, it is a court order to pay and holds the power
of the court order, but it is still just a piece of paper
till the subject collects the money. The court does not hold
the responsibility to collect the money for you.
Find
out where your subject works
This
is probably the easiest but will take a little practice though.
So follow what the pros do, get up early and wait for your
subject to get ready to go to work then follow them to work.
However be aware, however don’t use your own car, if
the subject knows you, try to get an unknown vehicle.
Now
in order to verify your subject’s employment you might
ask the person’s employer, for instance “he is purchasing
a house from me, and I would like to know the money he makes.”
Or “Does the person get paid weekly or biweekly”.
You need this information in order to know when paychecks
are issued if you any intention of garnishing wages. You will
also need to ask “Does he receive any bonuses?”
or “how long has he been employed in this job”,
etc.
Passive
Income
There
is also a category of income known as unearned income, which
does not come via a paycheck. This form of income is earned
via rentals or dividends and from interest earned from owning
stock.
Subpoena
Business Records
You
can also choose to subpoena a subject’s business records
if his employer is known. By serving a Business Record Subpoena
you can get a hold of the subject’s payroll checks that
the person has cashed. If you take a look at the back of the
check you will see the subject’s account title as well
as the name of the bank.
Going
through public records
Public
records hold millions of filings as well as estate and property
transactions, as well records of new businesses which can
be looked through at a country courthouse. This is publically
available information, and hence accessible by everyone.
Real
estate property is some of the most well documented assets
and valuable of all assets. The records of these real estate
transactions are easily available at the country recorder’s
office as well as the registrar of deeds office. The records
are indexed by the property owner’s name which are cross
indexed by the address location of the property. The documentation
will include the jurisdiction, deeds of trust, property address,
mortgage lender etc.
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