Whether you are seeking to find out someone’s net worth, or you are mulling over a divorce settlement or want to know the creditworthiness of a person, you will find it necessary to verify someone’s assets. The process can, however, turn out hectic, especially if you do not know where to start.
The conventional first thought that comes to mind when you want to find out someone’s assets would be to check the banks. However, that might not be so easy, as getting access to someone’s financial records is protected under the law. You will need proper authorization to do this. So what is the best way to find out someone’s assets without making the process cumbersome and messy? We take a look at this from the start.
How to start
The first step that you should take should be to take time and write down everything that you know the person owns. Starting with what you already know on your own and what the individual told you. Remember, you must thoroughly verify what they told you they hold, without settling for it as absolute truth.
It will take you a while, but eventually, you will be able to come up with a good list of what the person owns. The reason why you must diligently verify is that in an impending divorce settlement process, an individual might try to conceal what they truly own. It would be painful realizing that there were some hidden assets after divorce, which were not discussed during the settlement.
Where do you start checking?
As earlier stated, banks might not be the best places to go asking for someone’s financial records; you are bound to hit a dead end. Do not despair; there are other several places that you can easily check out and know whether someone has some property in their name or not.
- The most natural assets to locate will be in real estate, vehicle, boats, aircraft and virtually anything else that must be recorded for tax purposes.
- Real estate assets can first be pinpointed from your local county assessor’s office, where you have a clue that the property could be found. Here you will find anything and everything related to ownership of property such as liens, tax records, and any property transfer records if the assets changed hands.
- Boats and any other watercraft vessels are typically registered. Therefore you can be able to locate this from watercraft registry or the US Coast Guard. Normally small boats not more than 27 feet are registered with the DMV, while larger and expensive boats more than 27 feet are registered with the US Coast Guard.
- Aircraft ownership is also discoverable from the Federal Aviation Administration as all aircraft must be registered with the authority.
Court orders are also necessary and a proper consideration especially if you are seeking to find out net worth of a person in a child support case or otherwise. This will also come in handy in a situation where you are seeking to find out assets of a deceased person. The good thing about court orders is that with one, you can get access to almost all the records, financial or otherwise, that were initially off-limits.
Phone records, obtained by subpoena can also come in handy, especially if you want to know someone’s relatives, friends, and acquaintances who might be hiding property for the search subject. This is common in a case where one wants to hide property in a divorce dispute so that it doesn’t come under legal scrutiny.
Business bank accounts, on the other hand, can somehow be obtained too without a court order by merely checking in Dun’s Million Dollar Directory. You can as well have access to the company’s annual reports.
Personal bank accounts might be way harder to check personally. But with an expert, you can go round it by mailing a check to the subject for some few dollars, calling it a ‘’prize.’’ Once a deposit is made, you will have the bank routing number inscribed on the back of the canceled check. You, however, cannot find out the size of the bank account without the express permission of the individual.
Where else can you look?
Other key places to look for someone’s assets include civil or criminal litigation records or in probate. Key areas are:
- Bankruptcy records-they must list all the assets that the individual in search has
- Tax evasion records
- Divorce records
- Probate fillings-especially if someone has recently inherited some property from a relative.
Note that it is sometimes difficult to find collectibles, but you can check them with insurance policy riders or addendums. This is mainly attached to the main homeowner’s policy.
Travel agency records can as well come in handy especially if you want to locate any off-shore assets and accounts that the individual has. The agencies will have passport records, telephone and hotel receipt records that might all point to overseas travels. Consider getting these from subpoenaing records.
Finally, if there is any suspicious large purchase of property, or insurance policy or a massive transfer of money, be sure to check it out. Sometimes also people will rent storage units that you might not be privy to. Check also if any safe deposit boxes might be hiding jewelry or valuables that the subject under search might not want to be discovered.
