Hello:

I've always advised people that their assets could not be hidden because banks or lawyers could always do an "asset search". The truth is, I have no idea if they can, or even what one is.

Tell me, is there some secret data base somewhere that only banks or law enforcement can log on to, that will tell them where ALL my (or anyone’s) accounts and real estate is located?

excon

Hmmmm... I'll have to ask the wife. She does a lot of family law (here in Canada) and has mentioned before that they usually find all assets without the requirement of law officials.

Apparently they find all your bank accounts with your SSN, but if you don't have an account I don't know how they could know how much cash you may have.

"There's no database that I know of that maintains bank accounts for everybody in the US. IRS doesn't have it. Nobody has that information. Each bank requires certain info when you open a bank account. You have to give them your SSN. The bank sends a tax form to IRS when it's an interest baring account."

Check this link for more info:
http://proagency.tripod.com/ask8.html

Based on my experiences, no.

When we take a person's deposition, we often ask questions about assets to make it easier to find them after a judgment. There are programs and databases that make it a lot easier (deeds, mortgages, title search all in one) but none that will tell of all your assets, etc.

I worked for a private dect in GA, and he had some data bases he used for locating people and locating assets.

But a lot of it was cross references first social security numbers, then looking to see if they have any business names or EIN numbers and checking them.

But I am sure there is ways to hide money if you knew the system.

I was a private investigator for eleven years, working mostly white collar crimes. Lots of computer database work. I was able to dig fairly deep. We used the Lexis/Nexis database, Axiom, Secretary of State databases for the state the person resided in, any state they were associated with and always Delaware, property records/auditor's office, Socials of the children or close relatives and then back tracking. Although I worked very few divorce cases, when I did we would make a list of known banks, savings and loans, credit unions, mutual funds that the person may have been affiliated with and also a list of banks and savings and loans in proximity of the residence and employment. We would then have a process server deliver the paperwork necessary to freeze any account at those establishments. If there was no account, the bank would say so. If there was an account, they would freeze it. And, we would then know if there were assets at that bank.
It is more difficult now that people are using virtual banking such as Ing rather than the bank at the end of the block. There are countries that are still making it easy to transfer and hold funds, as long as they are done in small enough deposits.

Can you find all the assets belonging to a person? No. If a person picks the right "mattress" to hide the bills under, they will most likely stay hidden.

I was a private investigator for eleven years, working mostly white collar crimes. Lots of computer database work. I was able to dig fairly deep. We used the Lexis/Nexis database, Axiom, Secretary of State databases for the state the person resided in, any state they were associated with and always Delaware, property records/auditor's office, Socials of the children or close relatives and then back tracking. Although I worked very few divorce cases, when I did we would make a list of known banks, savings and loans, credit unions, mutual funds that the person may have been affiliated with and also a list of banks and savings and loans in close proximity of the residence and employment. We would then have a process server deliver the paperwork necessary to freeze any account at those establishments. If there was no account, the bank would say so. If there was an account, they would freeze it. And, we would then know if there were assets at that bank.
It is more difficult now that people are using virtual banking such as Ing rather than the bank at the end of the block. There are countries that are still making it easy to transfer and hold funds, as long as they are done in small enough deposits.

Can you find all the assets belonging to a person? No. If a person picks the right "mattress" to hide the bills under, they will most likely stay hidden.

You are bringing back nightmares for me... lol

I have been in a few situations where I basically had to serve EVERY bank in the County cause we didn't know where someone had accounts. Not fun.