Why Do I Need a Skip Trace? Can’t I Just Do an Online Search for the Person?
Finding defendants and witnesses in your court cases, especially those that have been in progress for a while, can be a challenge.
To help you hunt down those parties for whom you no longer have accurate contact information so they can be properly served, many law firms use skip tracing services. Skip tracing uses databases and public information in the hopes of finding a current address, phone number, or other information to help you find the person or entity you want to serve.
But with the wealth of information available online today, do you really need to pay someone to run a skip trace? Can’t you just do a search to find their updated information?
Here are 4 reasons why skip tracing is a better way to find defendants and witnesses than searching the internet for information:
More Efficient
Searching for correct contact information when you’re just using public resources can take up a lot of time.
You and your staff think you’ve found the right address for someone, and you try to have them served. But, unfortunately, it’s just a dead-end. And this happens over and over again.
Spending all this time – whether yours or that of your staff – trying to hunt down the right address is a colossal waste of billable time. In addition to that, the days and weeks you may spend chasing after a witness or defendant can seriously impact the progress of your case in court, potentially leading you to miss important deadlines.
Electing to have your defendant or witness skip traced means that the burden of finding the correct address and verifying whether it’s correct shifts from you and your team to the person performing the skip trace. This frees you up to focus on your other work, staying on-schedule much more easily.
More Cost-Effective
Finding people who may not want to be found can get expensive. To gain access to the resources and databases that hold the more up-to-date information, you may need to pay multiple memberships.
Additionally, paying your staff to spend a lot of time combing those databases for your subject is a waste of billable time they could spend in other ways. Add to that the potential for multiple service attempts and your budget can quickly balloon.
By electing to use a professional skip tracer, it may feel as if you’re paying more from the beginning, but overall you’ll get a better value out of the deal. You pay a fee for the skip tracer’s time and tools to help you find the witness or defendant, and they spend the time finding the person you’re looking for.
Less Stressful
Spending tons of your time combing online listings without any luck is frustrating and, especially if you have other things you know you need to do, increases your stress levels.
Hiring someone to run a skip trace for you shifts this responsibility from you and your team onto the skip tracer. This means you just pass off the information you have and what you need, and the skip tracer only gets back in contact when they’ve got a valid address or if there’s a major issue.
You don’t have to be involved in all the searching and fruitless information, allowing you to focus on the other work you need to do and keeping your stress levels lower.
More Effective
When it comes to collecting information, your task is only as successful as the tools you have at your disposal.
If you’re conducting a search with phone books and Google, you’re not as likely to be successful in finding the information you want. And, if you want access to the more reliable information, you have to pay a premium for it.
Skip tracers, on the other hand, have professional databases they utilize on a daily basis. While not completely fool-proof, they have access to a wider range of resources than your law firm does, making them more effective in finding witnesses and defendants.
Nationwide Skip Tracing Services
Are you having trouble finding a witness or defendant in a case you want to move forward? Our team of professional skip tracers can help you track them down and, if necessary, serve them promptly. Call today for a quote!