How can i found out if someone has a bank account?i won a case in small claims court for a grand and the guy i sued is giving me the run around. i have no way of getting his new address and im trying to see if he has a bank account because the court said if he has that i can some how get my money that way. i know the guy is a bum so he has no job but still manages... | |
Identifying and locating (and seizing) a person's assets to satisfy a judgment is known as "supplementary process" in the legal system. Collecting your money after winning a judgment is often one of the most interesting and challenging aspects of a case, and for bigger cases there are attorneys who specialize in nothing but supplementary process.
The two prior answers are most definitely NOT correct. If this guy is a bum then he may be judgment-proof (i.e., have no money to give you, since welfare and SSI payments are exempt from seizure) but if he has any money or assets or gets some in the future, there are powerful ways of getting it.
The procedures in each state are different, so you're going to have to do some studying. Okay, a lot of studying. Start out with "Collecting judgments in small claims court," "serving executions," and "california supplementary proceedings in small claims court." In the meantime, here are some ideas:
1. BANK ACCOUNTS. As the winner of a judgment you are entitled to serve a summons on any bank which will force them to disclose to you the amount of assets which the judgment debtor has on deposit with them, and simultaneously ordering them to freeze these assets. In Massachusetts this is known as "attachment on trustee process," or "trustee attachment." You can then serve an execution on the bank to have them turn the money over to you.
But summonses cost money, and you probably can't go to go around to every bank in the state, serving summonses. So you will have to do a little bit of gumshoe work. Talk to his prior landlord and find out if he ever paid his rent by check, and if so, what bank it was drawn on. If the landlord (or anybody else) won't cooperate, you would be able to subpoena them and force them to answer these questions, but this process may or may not be available in small claims court. There are other tricky ways of finding out where a person has bank accounts.
If you really don't have a clue, then you can serve summonses on a few of the big national banks (like BoA) and the local banks that are close to where the guy lives.
2. FIND OUT WHERE HE LIVES. You said you have no way of knowing his new address. If the registry of motor vehicles has this information, you may be entitled to a court order to access this information. Also check the local excise tax lists, to see where he is paying his motor vehicle taxes from. Check with the post office, to see if they have a forwarding address, and check with his past landlord. Bear in mind that once he was properly served with the lawsuit, you are no longer responsible for keeping track of him: from that point on, regular mail sent to his last known address is (in most states) considered adequate notice for additional court proceedings.
3. PUT AN ATTACHMENT ON HIS MOTOR VEHICLE. That will get his attention.
4. ATTACH ANY REAL ESTATE WHICH HE MAY OWN. Do a title search at the county registry of deeds.
5. PLACE AN ATTACHMENT ON HIS TOOLS OF THE TRADE, if he's in business for himself.
6. GARNISH HIS WAGES, if he ever gets a job. You can garnish up to 25% of his weekly wages, to the extent that they are above minimum wage.
7. ANY OTHER MOVABLE ASSETS (like boats, cars, personal property, etc., can be seized on a Writ of Execution).
8. In many states you can interfere with the renewal of his drivers' license if he has outstanding judgments. Find out the procedure for doing this.
9. Find out what the procedures are for getting a capias (pronounced KAY-PEE-AS), which is a civil arrest warrant which can be served by a constable or sheriff, if he fails to come back to court for payment hearings.
Keep after him, and be patient. If he has no money now, the judgement will keep. Sooner or later this guy will stop being a bum, and you'll be able to collect. Bear in mind that in most states you are entitled to a pretty high rate of interest on old judgments (often 6 or 12%).
The above answer is correct. There is no way you can gain access to such private information. Maybe a Private Investigator could find out but it's not worth the trouble for a $1,000 case.
If it makes you feel better, the judgement has most likely been reported to his credit files, so his credit rating/score has been damaged.
How would you feel if I said that I could get your bank account records? If you would feel violated, then you understand why the courts protect everyone, criminals included.
You can hire a PI, who will likely have access to more information than you.
