Skip tracing – What is it?

Anyone who’s been in the legal services long enough has heard of skip tracing. But for the uninitiated, it can be a confusing term.

Skip tracing is, quite simply, tracking down people.

Whether a person has changed their name, moved to a different state, or just doesn’t answer any letters or phone calls, skip tracing services can help track down these hard-to-find individuals.

Large amounts of information about an individual is gathered, verified, and analyzed in an effort to determine a person’s location. This information can come from phone books, public court records, utility bills, and air travel records, among other things.

Professional skip tracers utilize their knowledge of where and how to find personal information to scour databases and records, conduct interviews, and follow up on what may seem to be even a slim lead. In the end, the hope is that the skip tracer has located the subject for the client, successfully completing the job.

Who can benefit from skip trace services?

People in many industries utilize skip tracing services to help make their business more efficient and profitable.

Some common industries that use skip tracing include:

• Lawyers: Law offices use skip trace services to find witnesses or opposing parties for whom they no longer have valid contact information.
  Skip tracing is used many times in divorce or child support cases to locate a missing spouse for serving divorce papers. Many times, skip tracing services for lawyers are paired with service of process in order for the subject to be served with a summons for a lawsuit.
• Collections agencies: Many debtors skillfully dodge attempts to collect on medical, consumer, and other types of debts.
  Skip tracing can help locate and validate contact information for debtors, increasing the chances that a debt will be collected, increasing profits.
• Bounty hunters: If someone escapes law enforcement, a bounty hunter can be called in to assist in locating a fugitive. If a fugitive can be located, the bounty hunter can be dispatched to capture the fugitive.
• Banks and other lending agencies: Sometimes, a debtor disappears before a personal, home, or educational loan is completely paid.
  Performing a skip trace can increase the possibility of finding an outstanding debtor and collecting on an unpaid debt.
• Journalists: When reporting on a story, journalists often need to locate specific people in order to conduct crucial interviews. These sources can be difficult to locate.
  Skip tracing can assist journalists with locating difficult-to-find interview subjects, increasing the effectiveness of the reporting.

What can skip tracing help find?

While skip tracing is often used to find the subjects of court cases or witnesses in those court cases, there are a variety of types of information that can be found via skip tracing.

Skip trace services can help find:

• Defendants and witnesses in court cases: Sometimes, the court process moves very slowly. This makes it more likely that defendants or witnesses in a court case will be difficult to find.
  Skip tracing can help find their most recent address and contact information so they can be served with warrants, summonses, and subpoenas.
• Locating debtors: Whether it’s a credit card debt, a medical debt, or an unpaid mortgage, debt collectors and debt buyers need to be able to locate the people who owe them money so they can collect it.
• Locating potential home buyers and sellers: Some real estate agents and investors need to find wayward property owners in an attempt to sell a property. Additionally, they may need to track down the next of kin for a deceased property owner for estate and probate cases.
• Finding lost family: Skip tracing also can be used by those conducting genealogy research to find family members with whom they’ve lost touch.

Nationwide Skip Tracing Services

If you need high-quality, professional skip tracing services, look no farther than Torri’s Legal Services. Our experienced team can help find your lost individuals across the nation. Contact us today for a quote!