To find a person’s assets, you work outward from free public records into legal tools that compel disclosure, using the least invasive option that fits your situation. Property, business, and court filings are open to anyone. Bank balances, brokerage accounts, and credit files are not, and the wrong shortcut to reach them is a federal crime. What follows is the practical order of operations, from what you can do this afternoon at your kitchen table to what requires a subpoena, a licensed investigator, or a forensic accountant.
What You Need Before You Start
Every search runs faster and returns fewer false matches when you bring identifiers. Start with the person’s full legal name plus aliases, maiden names, and variant spellings. A date of birth is close to essential when the name is common. Last known addresses (current and previous) tell you which counties to search, because most public records are filed county by county rather than in one national index.
A Social Security Number opens doors in formal legal processes but cannot be used freely for casual searches. Employment history and business affiliations point to income sources, retirement accounts, and corporate holdings. Names of family members and business partners help you catch assets parked in related names or entities. And if you already know which banks or brokerages the person uses, save that information for later. Those are the institutions your attorney will subpoena.
Public Records You Can Search Yourself
Real Estate and Tax Liens
Every county maintains ownership records for real estate inside its borders. The county assessor or recorder office lets you search by owner name, address, or parcel number, and results typically show ownership history, assessed and market value, tax amounts, and transfer dates. Most counties offer this online at no cost. There is no unified national property database, so if the person owns real estate in more than one county you search each county separately.
Federal tax liens are recorded in those same county offices. When the IRS files a Notice of Federal Tax Lien, it sits in the recorder’s index alongside deeds and mortgages, and finding one confirms the person had income or assets large enough to trigger an IRS claim.
Business Filings and UCC Records
Each state’s Secretary of State keeps records of corporations, LLCs, and partnerships formed in the state. Filings show the registered agent, officers or managers, and business address, and most states let you search by an individual’s name. Look for someone listed as an officer, director, member, or registered agent.
The same offices house Uniform Commercial Code filings. A UCC filing records a security interest, meaning someone pledged an asset as collateral. Running a UCC search can surface business equipment, inventory, and accounts receivable that will not appear anywhere else.
Court Records and PACER
Civil court records reveal lawsuits, judgments, and liens. Someone sued for a large debt, someone holding a judgment against another party, or someone in bankruptcy leaves a trail. State court records are searchable through county clerks and, increasingly, statewide online portals.
For federal cases, the Public Access to Court Electronic Records system (PACER) covers more than a billion documents across all federal courts and lets registered users search nationwide by name.1PACER. Public Access to Court Electronic Records Bankruptcy filings are unusually valuable here because federal rules require debtors to file detailed schedules of every asset, debt, income source, and recent financial transaction.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC App Rule 1007 – Lists, Schedules, and Statements; Time Limits
Aircraft and Vessels
The FAA runs a free public Aircraft Registration Inquiry that is searchable by owner name and updates every federal workday.3Federal Aviation Administration. Aircraft Registration – Registration Inquiry The U.S. Coast Guard maintains a similar system for documented vessels, though its online lookup runs by vessel name rather than owner name. For title and lien information on a documented vessel, contact the USCG National Vessel Documentation Center directly.
Cars, trucks, and motorcycles are different. State DMV records are restricted by the federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act, discussed further below.
SEC Filings for Corporate Insiders
If the person is an officer, director, or significant shareholder of a public company, the SEC’s EDGAR system is one of the few free sources that ties specific dollar amounts to a named individual. Insiders must disclose holdings and trades on Forms 3, 4, and 5. Anyone holding more than 5% of a company’s voting stock files a Schedule 13D or 13G. Annual proxy statements (DEF 14A) list executive compensation and beneficial ownership of directors and officers.4U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Using EDGAR to Research Investments EDGAR’s full-text search lets you query by name directly.5U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. EDGAR Full Text Search
Unclaimed Property
People forget accounts. Dormant bank accounts, uncashed checks, unredeemed insurance payouts, and abandoned safe deposit box contents are eventually turned over to state unclaimed property programs. The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators operates MissingMoney.com, which searches participating state databases in one query for free.6National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators. National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators Also check individual state treasury or comptroller websites for every state where the person has lived, and run every plausible name variation.
Legal Tools That Compel Disclosure
Discovery During Litigation
Once a lawsuit is on file, formal discovery makes the other side hand over financial information. Interrogatories are written questions answered under oath. Requests for production force disclosure of bank statements, tax returns, brokerage records, and loan applications. Depositions put the person in a chair and let your attorney question them under oath about every account, holding, and transfer. Federal rules allow discovery on any non-privileged matter relevant to a claim or defense, and most state rules match that scope.
Post-Judgment Debtor Examinations
Winning a judgment and collecting on one are separate problems. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 69 lets a judgment creditor take discovery from any person, including the debtor, in aid of executing the judgment.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 69 – Execution Every state has an equivalent, usually called a debtor’s examination or supplementary proceeding. The debtor appears in court and answers questions under oath about income, accounts, real estate, vehicles, and every other asset. Filing fees for scheduling one are typically modest, in the $50 to $60 range.
What you learn in that examination feeds enforcement: wage garnishment, bank levies, and property liens. Each requires a writ of execution from the court, served by the sheriff or a professional process server.
Bankruptcy Rule 2004 Examinations
Bankruptcy cases produce some of the most complete asset disclosures anywhere. Debtors must file schedules covering every asset, every liability, current income and expenses, and a full statement of financial affairs.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC App Rule 1007 – Lists, Schedules, and Statements; Time Limits Beyond the schedules, Bankruptcy Rule 2004 lets any party in interest obtain a court order to examine any entity about the debtor’s acts, conduct, property, liabilities, and financial condition.8Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure Rule 2004 – Examinations Its scope is intentionally broader than ordinary civil discovery.
Digital and Cryptocurrency Assets
Crypto has become a common category of hidden asset, especially in divorces and judgment collection. When holdings sit on a U.S.-based exchange like Coinbase, Kraken, or Gemini, a subpoena can compel the exchange to produce account records, transaction history, and current balances. Exchanges outside the United States are much harder to reach.
If you obtain a public wallet address through discovery, every transaction tied to it is visible on the blockchain, and free blockchain explorers let you follow the flow of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and most major coins. Privacy coins like Monero are built to obscure that data. Forensic blockchain firms specialize in reconstructing transaction paths and are often worth the cost when significant sums are involved.
Other digital assets are easy to overlook: domain names, e-commerce stores, advertising accounts with accrued revenue, digital media libraries, and NFTs. None of these show up in traditional financial records.
When You Suspect Assets Were Moved to Hide Them
Sometimes the problem is not locating an asset but proving someone transferred it to escape a creditor. Every state has adopted a version of the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act (previously the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act), which lets a creditor unwind transfers made with intent to hinder or defraud. Courts look for “badges of fraud”: transfers to insiders like family members or business partners, the transferor keeping control after the supposed transfer, timing right after a lawsuit or threat of one, transferring nearly everything the person owned, and receiving little or nothing in exchange.
A creditor who proves a fraudulent transfer can get it reversed, obtain a lien on the transferred property, secure an injunction against further transfers, or have a receiver appointed. Tracing funds through layered accounts and shell entities is where forensic accountants earn their fees, because the work goes well beyond searching public records.
Hiring Professional Help
Licensed Private Investigators
PIs subscribe to proprietary databases that aggregate public records, credit headers, utility data, and other commercial sources. A licensed investigator can often assemble a picture of bank accounts, brokerage accounts, real estate, vehicles, and business affiliations in a fraction of the time it would take you. Most states require licensing, though standards vary. Expect hourly rates of roughly $85 to $225 in 2026, with retainers of $1,500 to $5,000. The Drivers Privacy Protection Act specifically authorizes licensed PIs to access motor vehicle records for permitted purposes.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 2721 – Prohibition on Release and Use of Certain Personal Information From State Motor Vehicle Records
Forensic Accountants
When assets are buried inside complex business structures, trusts, or chained transfers, a forensic accountant traces flows a PI or attorney would miss. They analyze financial statements, bank records, tax returns, and transaction histories to identify discrepancies and reconstruct cash flows. Individual practitioner rates typically run $200 to $600 per hour, with senior experts at large firms reaching $500 to $1,000 or more. A full divorce asset trace commonly costs $7,500 to $20,000 or more depending on complexity.
Attorneys
An attorney runs the process. They issue subpoenas, file motions for debtor examinations, retain PIs and forensic accountants, and manage the procedural rules for each tool. In judgment collection, a lawyer who knows post-judgment practice in your state will know which methods work locally and which assets are exempt from seizure. Many judgment-collection attorneys work on contingency or hybrid arrangements because they only get paid on what they recover.
What You Cannot Legally Do
Pretexting Financial Institutions
This is the line people most often cross. Federal law makes it a crime to obtain someone’s financial information from a bank or other financial institution by false pretenses. You cannot call a bank pretending to be the account holder, a government official, or anyone else to pry loose account information, and you cannot hire someone else to do it for you. Violations carry up to five years in prison and fines, doubling to ten years when the pretexting is part of a pattern involving more than $100,000.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC Chapter 94, Subchapter II – Fraudulent Access to Financial Information If you need bank records, use a subpoena or a court order. There is no shortcut worth the risk.
Pulling a Credit Report
Curiosity is not a permissible purpose. The Fair Credit Reporting Act limits consumer reports to specific uses: a court order, the consumer’s written consent, a business transaction the consumer initiated, or a government agency evaluating eligibility for a license or benefit that requires financial review.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 US Code 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports Pulling a report without a permissible purpose creates civil liability and potential federal penalties. In litigation, the proper route is a subpoena through discovery, not the credit bureau’s back door.
Motor Vehicle Records
The Drivers Privacy Protection Act restricts access to personal information in state motor vehicle records, with carve-outs for government agencies, court proceedings, service of process, judgment enforcement, licensed investigators, insurers, and certain business verification uses.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 2721 – Prohibition on Release and Use of Certain Personal Information From State Motor Vehicle Records Casual searches without a qualifying purpose are prohibited. If you need vehicle ownership data and do not fit an exception, route the request through an attorney or licensed PI who does.
The through-line is simple. Public records held by governments are open, and you can work them yourself. Records held by private institutions require consent, a court order, or a statutory authorization. When you’re not sure which side of the line you’re on, use a subpoena. It takes longer and it keeps you out of court as a defendant.