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Published By: Fred L. Abrams, Attorney At Law

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Divorce & Hidden Money: Filing Letters Rogatory & Lawsuits Over Offshore Assets

By Fred Abrams on February 25, 2015
Posted in Asset Search/Fraud Investigation, Divorce & Child Support, Divorce & Hidden Money, Financial Institutions, Hidden Money

This 14th post in the “Divorce & Hidden Money” series focuses on an ex-husband who lived offshore and had not paid child support or spousal maintenance for decades.  In such situations, letters rogatory might be filed to help gather evidence about any assets hidden offshore.  If assets are hidden offshore, another remedy may be filing a lawsuit alleging assets have been fraudulently transferred.

For thirty years the ex-husband in Janet O. v. James O., slip op. 51985 (Sup. Ct. N.Y. County, October 17, 2006) had not made one single child or spousal maintenance support payment.  By living in places like Barbados, the Dominican Republic and Mexico, the ex-husband had offshore asset protection and could hinder enforcement proceedings brought for his ex-wife &/or their three sons.  After the divorce, the ex-husband remarried and adopted his new wife’s two daughters.  Meanwhile, his ex-wife and three sons were relegated to a life of hardship, poverty and public assistance.

One of their sons even had to quit college to become a construction worker to support the ex-wife.  Likely to have little practical effect on the absconding ex-husband were: the seizure of New York bank accounts, income tax refunds and lottery winnings; the denial of new and renewed passports; driving license restrictions and the referral of cases for criminal prosecution.  See generally N.Y. Dom. Rel. §§ 244; 244 (a) – (d) & 245, Family Court Act §§454, 458-a, 458-b & N.Y. Civ. Prac. L & R § 5241.  Given the ex-husband’s default for decades, the Janet O. Court did however, indicate it would seek the ex-husband’s extradition.

FILING LETTERS ROGATORY

Although it was not financially feasible for the above-mentioned ex-wife, a letter rogatory, (a.k.a legal assistance request or letter of request), might have helped her situation.  In some cases, letters rogatory can be effective against a divorcing spouse or non-custodial parent hiding assets offshore.  By filing letters rogatory, one may search for secret bank accounts &/or collect financial evidence from witnesses residing offshore.  Letters rogatory are often sought pursuant to The Hague Convention, Taking of Evidence (1970) No. 20.¹  A New York court may issue a letter rogatory to a foreign court as contemplated by Fed. R. Civ. P. 28 (b);  Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(f)(2)(B); &/or N.Y. Civ. Prac. L & R 3018.  N.Y. Civ. Prac. L & R 3108 for example, says:…
Continue Reading Divorce & Hidden Money: Filing Letters Rogatory & Lawsuits Over Offshore Assets

Private Investigators: 5 Things To Be Aware Of When Hiring A PI For A Bank Account Search

By Fred Abrams on December 2, 2014
Posted in Asset Search/Fraud Investigation, Bank Search, Divorce & Child Support, Financial Institutions, Hidden Money, Illegal Asset Searches, Privacy Laws, Private Investigators

This is the first post in my new series about what private investigators can & cannot do legally when searching for hidden assets.  Divorcing spouses, creditors bringing forced collection proceedings, etc., may search for assets by hiring private investigators and/or information brokers who try to detect secret bank accounts.  The post asks: what standards should be followed when investigating bank accounts at U.S. financial institutions?  At the conclusion it discusses some best practices.  The post’s talking points are:

  1. Hiring A Private Investigator For A $249.00 Bank Account Search?
  2. The Security Of Your Information At Banks in the U.S.
  3. How Illegal Pretext Calls Work In An Investigation
  4. Federal Laws Related To Pretexting
  5. Best Practices For Collecting Bank Account Information

I.  HIRING A PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR FOR A $249.00 BANK ACCOUNT SEARCH?

Virginia private investigator Arcanum Investigations, Inc. apparently offers bank account searches through the Docusearch.com, (“Docusearch”), website.  For $249.00 plus $50 for each open bank account detected, Docusearch says it “[i]dentifies all bank accounts,” “[b]ank name and address,” “[a]ccount titles, where available“, “[a]ccount type” and “[a]pproximate account balance, where available.”  The website states that Docusearch “will continue to search all major banks…”:

“We will not stop searching once an account is located. We will continue to search all major banks and credit unions nationwide and locality of the subject. No account numbers will be returned. Your attorney may subpoena all bank records (directly) from the bank once account(s) have been identified.”

The Docusearch “How To Find Hidden Bank Accounts” video asserts “our licensed private investigators specialize in finding hidden assets, secret bank accounts and other financial information that people work so hard to hide.”  The video says “[o]ur licensed private investigators and asset search specialists have access to protected information that’s usually reserved just for law enforcement…plus you can rest easy knowing all of our work is done in compliance with all bank privacy laws.”

…
Continue Reading Private Investigators: 5 Things To Be Aware Of When Hiring A PI For A Bank Account Search

About Fred Abrams

Fred Abrams
As a member of the New York bar since 1990, Mr. Abrams has handled a wide variety of legal matters in which assets were hidden, such as RICO, money laundering, identity theft and tax fraud. He additionally handled cases in federal court in which his adversaries were Casio Computer Co. Ltd. of Japan; General Motors Corp.; Detroit Diesel Corp; & Lloyds of London.

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