Whether you’re involved in a divorce or trying to find out the value of a deceased person’s estate, it can be necessary to verify someone’s assets.
Unfortunately, it can be a complicated process in Scotland and can require a great deal of determination to find the assets, so using a private detective in Scotland can prove useful.
We cover what asset tracing is, what counts as traceable assets, what tracing services Global Investigations can provide, and more:
What Is Asset Tracing?
Put simply, asset tracing is the legal identification of property or valuables that have been misappropriated.
To find out someone’s assets that have been lost to fraud or theft, the asset recovery process is used. In this instance, private detectives like Global Investigations can trace assets in Scotland by conducting a financial investigation.
Detective work may also be undertaken during probate to track down the assets that make up the estate of the deceased.
Probate in Scotland
Usually after someone’s death, the executer of a will deals with their estate, obtaining information in respect to any assets to be gathered or liabilities to be paid off.
However, very few of the deceased provide lists of all their assets and liabilities, so it can prove difficult to trace debts or to find out the value of an estate without hiring a private investigator.
Some people may have lost or misplaced details of their assets in their lifetime, moved house without updating their address, lose track of pension schemes, or mislay accounts and investments.
What are Traceable Assets?
Assets that can be traced are anything owned by a business or an individual. For example, asset searches in Scotland can include but are not limited to:
- Real estate and inherited properties
- Stocks and shares
- All boats and machine purchases (e.g., yachts)
- Undeclared banking and accounts
- Intellectual property rights
- Company assets (e.g., property and equipment)
- Vehicles – any related finance and ownership of them
- Livestock (e.g., horse ownership)
To trace any hidden assets though, it is important to first check if they exist and can be found. Otherwise, you could suffer from expensive legal fees and unnecessary litigation costs.
What is Involved in Asset Tracing?
Gathering information is at the core of asset tracing. Private investigators can obtain it in a variety of ways from directly assessing public registers, such as examining the land registry of Scotland, company register, court records, tax records, vehicle registration register, charity register, register of insolvencies, register of bank accounts, immigration records, and custom records.
In cases where publicly assessable data is limited in the search for assets, a private investigation (often including physical surveillance) can uncover assets using a network of third parties and foreign jurisdictions.
Global Investigations Asset Tracing Services
Global Investigations offer expertise in searching and locating hidden assets. We always work within the parameters set by our clients and only use legitimate avenues to collect our information.
As private detectives, we take great care that all our reports are of a high standard and can be legally used in court, as well as ensuring that all evidence is timely obtained.
All our searches can be carried out in Scotland and in the wider UK. Additionally, we benefit from our strong relationships with agents overseas to find assets that have been well-hidden in properties and businesses abroad.
With a success rate of over 90% in tracing missing assets worldwide, we take great pride in being able to uncover the real wealth of our clients’ targets.
For more information on asset tracing, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.