The Expert Podcast

So this question comes up quite a bit in our investigative division. Regarding asset searches. how many kinds of assets searches are there Are there different types? Are there different scenarios for different searches Certainly there are. In fact, there are some services that can be called an asset search that can cost you 30 $40. There are some asset search services that can cost you thousands of dollars. Which one do you want? Well it depends on your use. For example. If an attorney or a law firm is doing a large due diligence on a corporation with very complicated. financial records and needs forensic accounting and analysis and historical data. And historical documents that could be thousands of dollars of of investigative work. On the other hand if you need just a quick electronic snapshot I have. potential assets that doesn't have to be a hundred percent accurate. You could do some online research and get something that is called an asset search for 50 or $60. It just depends upon how important it is to have the search be documented. To be performed by a licensed investigator and to be admissible in court, that's going to be the most important things. For example. There are 14 different types of assets There's bank accounts There's real estate there's vehicles There's corporate assets intellectual property. Sometimes people don't want all of the assets search, only certain category searched. Which is fine. As long as you know you're not getting a thorough complete asset search you may only be getting one part of the asset class. And the reason why that's important is. The source of four asset records. Do not come from one place. The source for bank account records don't come from the same place as real estate. The source for vehicles don't come from the same place as corporate assets. Right. So when you're doing an asset search, You have to search each location for those records for example. Real estate records come from the county recorder in the county where the real estate is located. If you go to the county recorder to find real estate holdings for person trying to hide assets, maybe they're doing a quit claim deed to somebody else's name. Maybe they're putting titles for real estate in a third party or in a trust. You can find all that out at the county recorder, but they're not going to have any information on bank accounts or vehicles or corporate assets. Right. You have to do that research in another location, corporate assets Now you have to get records from the secretary of state in the state where the business is located. Four. Let's say. Bank accounts you can have to search for a swift code records for check verification records for O sent records. Those will have the bank account records but they won't have real estate. So each section of asset types has records in a different location Now. One of the other things is should you get records from a third party, meaning that there are some aggregators that are out there like Lexus nexus or other databases. That collect. Records from various sources and it's a one-stop shop You put in a name you push a button it pops up on the screen. Well, That is a possibility but they're not a hundred percent They may not have all of the records They may not have all of the bank accounts or all of the real estate They may only have certain locations Some states don't report to these electronic databases. Some states don't report maybe once a year So anything newer might not be in there. So if you're okay with having partial records you can save a lot of money. The other thing to keep in mind is. For an asset search. Every source for records you have access to as a civilian. private investigator certainly. Has the expertise and experience to do this research And sometimes for convenience it's better to pay somebody else, but there's nothing a private investigator can do. With more power authority. Did you can't do yourself as a civilian consumer? If you. Read about the instructions of doing an asset search. If you educate yourself on where the records are and you learn what the process is for extracting those records, you can do an asset search yourself and save a lot of money. A typical investigator might spend 10 or 15 hours of labor doing a proper. Documented asset search from the direct sources not from indirect but direct sources. If you're willing to put in the time. You could do that yourself in I don't have to pay anybody Anything. You might have to pay some fees to get the documents For example, the county recorder might charge you $5 for copies of deeds. the, the vehicle records might be $25 for DMV but by paying a couple of very small fees. For documents, you might be able to put together that search yourself and analyze it and do your own research. If you want to save some money. we. have instructions for doing this and some of our other videos. But getting back to the the the question of the video is how many types of assets searches are there Well there's really unlimited. Here's why. There are 14 different classes of assets So there's any combination I want class one four and eight. I want a class two. Seven and 12, right? So any combination is a different search Also you can decide whether you want 100% documented…Paper results from the source or if you're okay with like third-party partial electronic records. And that throws a whole nother. Monkey wrench into the works where you might be. Okay With partial searching. So carefully constructing your assets or to meet your needs. Look if you have a small judgment against a person and you don't need to spend a ton of money. On an asset search. There may be ways to get some partial, preliminary searching that at least can give you a rough idea of what you're dealing with with Without having to spend a lot of money. So getting a good consultation with an investigator or. good. Kind of lay of the land of your particular scenario of why you need the asset search That's the most important thing. If you need it for court and have to be admissible, find out what the court is telling you You need for an asset search you might need a class one asset search. Right. You might need, an abstracted. document search the court will tell you what you need If it's for court if it's for your own use now you can decide you don't have to rely on the requirements of a court You can just do however you want to do it. Determining what type of assets search you need for real estate bank accounts vehicles, corporate intellectual property is the first step in figuring out how much it's going to cost and how long it's going to take.