Skip Tracing – The Difference between Failure and Success in the Legal Process

If you need to serve legal documents to an individual but are having a difficult time locating them, you need skip trace services. Skip trace services involve locating hard-to- find people who may have left town and are attempting to hide to avoid being served.

Who Do Skip Tracers Look For?

“Skips”—the individuals you are trying to locate—may have intentionally or unintentionally disappeared without leaving much in the way of a trail. Some skips owe money to other parties and disappear to avoid paying the other person or company. Not all skips are trying to evade detection, though. Skip trace services are also used to uncover the location of individuals who have been named in a will.

How Does Skip Tracing Work?

A skip tracer gathers information about the subject and gleans clues of their whereabouts from records like credit reports, phone number databases, and utility bills. Many of these records are only available via search warrants that would only be accessible to licensed investigators and local law enforcement. Skip tracing may also involve contacting former contacts (friends, family, and colleagues)—often under contrived pretenses—to locate the individual.

During the skip tracing process, the skip tracer will compile all the information gathered and will complete a comprehensive report of the individual’s past and current circumstances. It usually includes an individual’s personal contact information, known associates, criminal reports (including traffic violations), and a list of assets.

Skip tracing is more than tracking down individuals for process servers or finding people looking to avoid making payments. It is also useful when attempting document retrievals, as some individuals vanish in an attempt to keep their documents—personal or business—from becoming part of the public record, say, for a court case.

Skip tracing is an important part of the legal process and is potentially the difference between success and failure. If you cannot find the individual or information, it is difficult to proceed.