How to Find Someone's Assets

When someone is involved in a legal dispute such as a bitter divorce, he or she may be motivated to hide his or her assets in order to shield them from a legal judgment. But if someone has a legitimate need to find the assets, there are means available to do so. A fair amount of information as well as considerable determination are required on the part of the seeker.

Suggestions

1. Discovering hidden assets
2. Collect relevant information on the search subject. This includes the search subject's full legal name, Social Security number, address, workplace, bank records and any other information available. Gather as much information as possible by any legal means.
3. Verify the accuracy of your information. This means double-checking the spelling of a name, updating an address and perhaps making a call to the search subject's workplace. This is essential in order to obtain accurate information in a search. An accurate Social Security number is essential for many searches.
4. Obtain a court order, if possible. This is especially relevant for child-support cases. With a court order in hand, many records that may otherwise be off-limits, such as bank records, will become available.
5. Obtain phone records, including cellphone records. These records can be obtained by subpoena. Phone records can be a clue to relatives or other associates who may be hiding assets for the search subject.
6. Determine the search subject's workplace and frequency of pay. Again, this is much easier with a court order in hand. Simply following the person in the morning, however, can often disclose the search subject's workplace.
7. Look at tax records. For a spouse who files joint tax returns, obtaining a copy of a tax return is a legal right. Tax returns can also be obtained by subpoena or in response to an attempt to collect child support. Tax records always include a Social Security number.
8. Check for suspicious trips, especially overseas. Trips to places like Switzerland may be clues to offshore bank accounts that may contain hidden assets.This is especially true with repeat trips to the same location.
9. Search for large purchases of goods or even insurance policies, as well as substantial money transfers. Large withdrawals from a bank account or generous gifts to relatives may signal an attempt to shift assets to a third party.
10. Check for real-estate transfers or auto-title transfers Also, check for payments or purchases made on behalf of a third party. Real=estate records are filed with the county recorder's office as well as with the registrar of deeds.
11. Check for rentals of storage units and safety deposit boxes, which are frequently used as hiding places for heirlooms, jewelry and other assets that the search subject cannot or does not wish to convert into cash.

 

Tips

• Decide whether to conduct your own search or hire an investigator. A great deal of information is available in the form of public records. But searching through public records is time-consuming and can be fruitless unless you know what you're doing. Hiring an investigator may be more time- and cost-effective in the long run. If the search subject is a spouse or close relative, it may be easier to obtain sensitive information such as a Social Security number, and to keep track of at least some of the calls he or she makes and receives, as well as his movements. Overly large credit-card payments are another possible red flag as an attempt to hide assets.
• Be aware of what is legal and what is not in conducting a search. There can be serious legal consequences if information is obtained by illegal methods or if information is used for illegal purposes, such as stalking. Many online "investigation" services are little more than computerized scans of public records. The information retrieved is often out of date, and the prices can be high. It's much better to conduct one's own search, and the information obtained will probably be more accurate as well.

 

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How to Locate Hidden Assets

Hidden assets investigation and location is a skill that takes years of practice to acquire. The person hiding the asset works hard to prevent the discovery of the money, property or item of value because it is often very valuable and worth hiding. An investigator will use several tools, but often doesn't know what exactly they're looking for or going to find. Often several leads are followed that to the need for further investigation. A well-organized investigator will be able to help an client not find assets of value, but also recover those assets.

Things You'll Need

• Internet Connection
• Computer
• Car

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Suggestions

 

1. Gather known information. The target, or the person hiding the asset, makes the asset purchase or transfer. Additionally, there is often a known point of origin. Use the person requesting the investigation to give you as much information as possible. This will help you follow the trail of the asset through normal commerce, as well as black market channels.
2. Observe the target of your investigation. Follow their daily routine for a couple weeks to understand what they do, where they go, and how they conduct financial transactions. Clues to discovering hidden assets might be discovered through these actions or variations in routines.
3. Look at all of the target's known assets. Try to get the target's bank statements, Department of Morot Vehicles Report, credit card statements, public real estate documents and any other known accounts under any names or known business operations the associated with the target. Identity unusual transactions and ask the entity that helped the target facilitate the transaction for additional documentation or records of the transaction.
4. Look for documents that are not often associated with personal finances. Things like frequent flyer miles, security deposits, time shares, tax refunds, collections and hobbies or royalty payments are great ways to disguise assets. Often, these items aren't consistently paid for using the same amount of money. They're often good conduits to hide money or convert property to cash to hide the asset.
5. Request to look at the target's passport information. This might need to be done through court order. A passport will show travel to locations where assets might be hidden or converted.
6. Acquire emails or information on personal data assistants (PDAs) and cell phones this will help to obtain schedules and possible distance transactions with foreign banks that often hide assets for U.S. citizens that are difficult to have transferred back to the United States.

Things to Keep in Mind...

• These assets are not meant to be found so results aren't often guaranteed by investigators. Look for an investigator with a proven track record in recovering hidden assets. This will help increase your success in recovering hidden property. The investigator should also be versed in using the court system to discover and secure hidden assets through things as writs of execution, turnover orders, bank levies, blanket levies, and debtor's examinations.
• While trying to find hidden assets can be a contentious situation, make sure not to violate an individual's privacy. Those violations can lead to loss of the asset pursued along with exposure in a civil law suit for damages caused by the privacy violations of the target of an investigation.

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