5 Effective Bank Search Techniques for Lawyers
You’ve got a client in the middle of a nasty divorce. They suspect their spouse of stashing assets in an offshore bank account but have thus far been unable to find hard proof. The right bank search techniques for lawyers can help that client find hidden money that’s rightfully theirs.
Below, we’ll cover a few bank search methods for legal professionals.
Lawyer Strategies for Bank Searches
Think you can just waltz into a bank and demand that it hand over customer information? Think again. Banks are bound by privacy laws forbidding them from giving out customer information without consent.
It’s highly unlikely that the customer or their legal counsel will give you the go-ahead to comb through their bank accounts. You’ll need a subpoena or court order authorizing you to do so. To obtain one, you must have a good reason to look through the person’s financial affairs.
Valid reasons include:
- Finding hidden bank accounts, half of which belong to the owner’s spouse
- Uncovering illegal transfers of funds
- Determining how much alimony and/or child support a person can afford to pay
Below are a few investigative approaches for lawyers in bank searches.
1. Hire a Private Investigator or Forensic Accountant
Some bank accounts are easy to find. All you need is the person’s name and the name of their bank. Others, however, are very well hidden. A person might set up an account under a different name or in a city halfway across the country.
What do you do if your bank search doesn’t pan out? Consider hiring a forensic accountant or private investigator. These pros are specifically trained to find bank records no matter how elusive they are.
2. Use Investigative Data Tools
Finding bank records is tough if you don’t know much about your target. That’s where investigative data software comes in, and using it is one of the best bank search techniques for lawyers. In addition to bank accounts, such software can uncover:
- Names and aliases
- Address history
- Property records
- Business records
- Social media accounts
Considering how long it would take you to find all this information on your own, data investigation software is highly cost-effective.
3. Take Advantage of Big Data
Let’s say that you have a bunch of bank account data. All of it is packed into dozens of spreadsheets, and sifting through those documents to organize the data would take a ton of time.
Big Data comes to the rescue. You can use organization tools to link pieces of data connected in otherwise unclear ways. If you have a lot of unstructured data, try data extraction. This technique pulls and organizes metadata from various sources.
4. Look for Fraudulent Conveyance
Suppose you suspect a person of illegally transferring money to dodge their creditors (called fraudulent conveyance). Finding money illegally stashed in domestic bank accounts is fairly easy, but what about offshore accounts?
To find secret offshore accounts, try:
- Inspecting domestic accounts for large transfers
- Reviewing the person’s tax records
- Working with international attorneys and investigators in the suspected account’s jurisdiction
5. Track Down Real Property
Searching for real property like houses and office buildings can also help you flesh out your search for assets. If you spot a large withdrawal from a person’s bank account, they may have used this money to purchase real property off the books.
Discover More Techniques for Attorneys in Bank Searches
Want more bank search techniques for lawyers? Have further questions about the legalities and process of ferreting out hard-to-find information? Contact Professional Process Servers & Investigators, Inc. at (844) 722-8835 or contact us online.
