Unfortunately, it is surprisingly easy for assets to get lost during a person’s lifetime. A deceased person may have intended to provide for their heirs but may have lost track of certain assets that should be distributed with their estate.

As a probate and estates attorney, you need to be sure that the beneficiaries of the estate receive what they are entitled to receive. You do not want to be responsible for an asset that could not be located. To satisfy your due diligence, you can conduct a quick and inexpensive asset search that can track undisclosed assets so they can be included in the total estate and distributed to the beneficiaries. 

When a decedent passes, particularly if they have lived a long time, an address might not be updated with a financial institution, an insurance policy could go missing, an insurance company could be bought out or go public, checks could remain uncashed. Stocks or dividends could be held by the deceased, but if the records go missing, safe deposit boxes could be languishing in a bank vault. 

Complicating matters, these assets might not be mentioned in the will. The decedent might have mentioned that their life insurance policy was intended to go to a relative, but the policy is missing or old. The beneficiary needs to be certain that the policy is out there and was intended for them. As an attorney it is your fiduciary duty to assist your clients in making an exhaustive inventory of the deceased person’s assets. The executor or personal representative also has a fiduciary duty to the beneficiaries of the estate. The process can go more smoothly if you the attorney, and your client have made your best efforts to track down all the assets in the estate. 

At Asset Searches Plus, a quick and inexpensive asset search can be conducted to locate any missing asset for as little as $185 and turn around in 3 days. An individual asset search can be conducted nationally. There are many assets an asset search can locate, including, but not limited to: deed transfers, limited partnerships, trusts, and business interests. It can also locate physical property such as real estate, motor vehicles, aircraft, and intellectual property like patents, trademarks, and professional licenses.

An asset search will identify the liabilities of the deceased individual, such as mortgage information, Federal and State tax liens, judgements, and bankruptcies. Please contact us to learn more about how to do a quick asset search.

For more information on conducting an asset search, please call us at 1(800)290-1012 ext. 111, or visit our site at www.assetsearchesplus.com.