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The Critical Need for Quality Asset Searches in Litigation.
Lawsuits are about justice, and they’re often about money. Asset searches provide answers about a person’s financial standing, sometimes confirming pre-litigation whether it’s worth your time, effort, and expense to sue them at all. If you’re already in the throes of litigation, you and your attorney can gain valuable information from an asset search to inform your case. As a Michigan-based private investigations company, ASG can help at any stage of the litigation process.
Why Are Asset Searches Necessary?
Hiring a private investigator to conduct an asset search means you will work with a professional who understands the way assets are moved, titled, and deeded throughout the State of Michigan as well as nationally.
There are many benefits to asset searches pre-litigation, during litigation, and post-litigation:
- Learn what tangible assets are in a person’s name (e.g., homes, vehicles, businesses, etc.).
- Watch the assets to ensure the debtor does not attempt to move or conceal them to avoid collection.
- Identify collectible assets.
- Determine if the debtor has already concealed or attempted to conceal assets to avoid detection.
- Discover if the debtors have other outstanding liabilities or liens (e.g., other lawsuits, foreclosures, tax liens, fines, etc.).
- Determine where you may fall priority-wise in the line of collectors.
By commissioning asset searches, you can save significantly on legal fees if you determine that pursuing litigation will not be worthwhile – particularly in small claims court – because a person is not collectable prior to filing suit. If you have been granted a court-ordered judgment and are seeking to pursue assets, the recovery portion begins. A private investigator can help locate the party from whom you’re seeking to collect assets.
12 Reasons to Conduct Asset Searches
There are many reasons why you may want to hire a private investigator to conduct an asset search to confirm or deny the existence of assets or hidden assets. Here are some of the most common situations when asset searches are helpful and informative:
- Divorce proceedings.
- Difficulty collecting child support.
- Executive background checks.
- Vendor and contractor screening.
- Suspicion of business fraud.
- Lending money.
- Before filing litigation (Pre-Litigation Asset Search)
- During litigation.
- Before negotiations.
- Suspicion of investment fraud.
- Due diligence before investment or acquisition.
- Probate cases.
This list of asset searches is not exhaustive by any means. Highly trained private investigators can uncover assets in just about any situation where you need confirmation about the financial standing of another person.
Types of Asset Searches
There are dozens of types of basic or advanced asset searches that can be conducted in the state of Michigan for members of the general public, businesses, or attorneys. Just some of the information that can be gathered about a person include:
- Resident history.
- Vehicle ownership.
- Property ownership.
- Business ownership.
- Judgments against.
- Criminal history.
- Employment history.
- Domain name ownership.
- Offshore accounts.
- Photos of residence.
Complex corporate structures are often established to hide the true ownership of assets. In divorce cases, which are often contentious, parties may lie about or hide assets, committing financial misconduct by undervaluing marital assets, misusing retirement benefits, and more.
In any situation, whether asset cloaking is done knowingly or without thinking about the consequences does not matter – what is important is having the facts available, and that’s where privately conducted asset searches come into play.
Why Hire ASG to Conduct Asset Searches?
There are many ways for people to attempt hide assets or obscure ownership, particularly if they are in the throes of or facing down litigation. While it can be satisfying to discover that the person you are targeting with your litigation does indeed have the assets to pay out should you get a judgment in your favor, collection is not guaranteed. Asset searches conducted by a private investigator inform you about whether assets are already encumbered or where they may be hidden.
All asset searches conducted by the experienced team at ASG are customized. Asset investigations can be kept to the bare minimum or be exhaustive, but our work is always done legally, discreetly, and with great thoroughness. The information our experts can provide goes far beyond public record data. These are the details you or your clients need – and deserve – to know to make informed decisions. Contact ASG to learn more about our asset searches and how they can benefit your situation.
