Particularly in legal proceedings, it can be imperative to know how much a person or company is worth—in other words, to have a full accounting of their assets and properties. For example, in trying to win a financial case on a client’s behalf, attorneys sometimes need to know how much the opposing party is actually worth. There are a number of similar scenarios in which it’s critical to accurately catalog assets and quickly recover them—and in these scenarios, an asset investigation service can be incredibly useful.
Simply put, asset inventory and recovery can be exhausting. It is time-consuming, yet requires an unwavering commitment to accuracy and detail. As such, the job is most often handled by seasoned professionals who specialize in this type of work. We invite you to learn more about asset search services by contacting our staff at RCI International Process Service and Investigations.
Asset searches are a critical element of many individual and business-related private investigations. The importance of this task, however, does not correlate to its ease. An asset search is a time-consuming process that can yield a great deal of frustration. Ultimately, the success or failure of an asset search depends on the qualifications and capabilities of your private investigator.
Whether you’re looking for hidden assets from individuals or commercial entities, our team of investigators at RCI International Process Service and Investigations can help you track down assets across multiple legal jurisdictions. This is primarily useful when you’re tracking hidden assets from commercial entities who have used tools and banking systems to hide large assets across the United States.
What An Asset Investigation Entails
An asset investigation involves scrupulously combing through public records to get a feel for the party’s assets and properties. In some cases, there may be hidden assets that must be brought to light and properly disclosed within a legal setting. (Hidden assets are always a prevalent problem.) As such, asset location services can entail information-gathering across a large range of sources:
- Business assets
- Bank accounts
- Stock portfolios
- Vehicles and vessels
- Real estate property
Federal financial investigations also cover corporate filings, judgments, bankruptcies, liens, and more. Our investigatory team can work with you to identify and, if needed, recover assets in any of these categories.
Asset search services can be useful in several select scenarios. These include:
- Personal injury cases, in which lawyers need to size up the other party’s assets in order to drive a particular monetary settlement. Asset traces can be used in divorce proceedings, too.
- Companies satisfying their due diligence—for instance, seeking to determine whether a potential employee or investor is financially trustworthy.
- Individuals who are owed money, and need to legally determine whether the money they are owed can be fully recovered.
Asset search and recovery can also be helpful in the event of suspected fraud—for example, someone refuses to pay what they owe you, claiming they are out of funds, but you doubt the veracity of this claim. Initiating a fraud investigation can be critical in this circumstance.
Our investigative team at RCI employs a series of techniques to find the assets you seek, but don’t wait too long. While we are able to overcome major challenges, our number one enemy is time. Some people that seek asset searches wait until it is too late, and the party being searched has had time to hide or move assets. When a subject of an investigation knows their assets are going to be “searched”, they tend to employ techniques that makes finding hidden assets is even more frustrating and time consuming. Yes, we can still possibly find the assets, but we’ll have to spend more time going through different legal systems to ensure they can be uncovered.
It is important to note that there are sometimes limits to the asset investigation and recovery process. For example, while it is legally permissible to uncover the existence of a subject’s accounts at a public financial institution, it may be an invasion of privacy to inquire into the specific contents of these financial accounts.
This is one of the reasons why it’s important to work with professional asset location services who have a track record of success. Seasoned investigators like those at RCI, know what’s permissible and what’s not when conducting these searches.
We triple check the facts and, by doing so, uncover secrets and truths. We work closely with our clients and their lawyers to distinguish pertinent facts from the fallacious. Our team of investigative professionals work to recover missing assets, reveal fraudulent behavior, investigate cyber activity and many other investigation tactics that are specific to each situation. We are trained to objectively look at the facts and, through their many years of experience, decide the best resolutions.
Our professional investigative company contains investigators with previous law enforcement backgrounds as well as cyber specialists trained with state-of-the-art techniques to obtain critical electronic evidence in the areas of economics, technology and finance. The results that our professionals discover and uncover can be used by our client’s counsel for the use of evidence, negotiation or cross-examination.
At RCI, our investigative professionals have helped many lawyers in matters involving domestic dispute, search and recovery of assets, securities and fraud. Our other legal investigation services include fraudulent and internal investigations, investigations of financial records, cyber investigations, and asset recovery.