15 U.S.C. § 6801 et seq.
Why financial record access requires more than a
database subscription.
Most law firms subscribe to TLOxp, LexisNexis PeopleMap, or Westlaw PeopleMap. These are powerful tools for locating people, identifying addresses, and pulling public-record data.
They cannot, under federal law, provide active banking and brokerage account information without a court subpoena. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act prohibits it.
Post-judgment enforcement of a legal obligation is a recognized permissible purpose under GLBA. That classification is what allows a licensed investigator — through compliant, licensed data providers — to access the nonpublic personal financial information your firm's public-record databases cannot touch.
That access is the gap between knowing a debtor exists and knowing where their money is.
You don't need a subpoena to confirm whether a debtor holds an active checking account at a specific institution, whether they have a brokerage relationship, or whether either has moved since the judgment was entered. You need a PI working under the correct permissible-purpose framework.
Every category of record we access has a documented legal basis. Every finding in the report traces back to its source.
Bay Area attorneys know what happens
when collection methodology crosses a line.
California regulators have moved aggressively against firms using pretexting, sewer service, and fraudulent discovery tactics to collect debts. A bar complaint or regulatory action stemming from the conduct of a retained PI is an existential threat to a law firm's license.
Every step of our research methodology is documented, sourced, and defensible. If a finding is ever challenged — in court, in arbitration, or in a bar complaint — you can produce the methodology and the basis for every record accessed.
What a database subscription will find —
and what it won't.
A straight side-by-side. If your firm already runs TLOxp or LexisNexis, you have the left column. What you need is the right.
TLOxp / LexisNexis PeopleMap / Westlaw
- Address history & current-address confirmation
- Vehicle registrations & VIN lookup
- Real property deeds & transfer history
- UCC filings & secured-party research
- Corporate affiliations & officer records
- Court records & civil litigation history
- SSN trace & DOB verification
- Public-record phone & email association
What your subscription cannot legally provide
- Active bank-account identification, by institution
- Banking relationship confirmation & account status
- Balance indicators, where permissibly available
- Brokerage & securities account research
- Money-market & investment-fund relationships
- Payroll-deposit institution identification
- Retirement-account custodian research
- All of the above, under documented permissible purpose
"If your firm already runs TLOxp, you have the foundation. What you don't have is the banking layer — and that's where most collectible assets actually sit."
Four layers.
One written report.
The research is organized as four discrete layers. Each layer has a distinct legal basis, a distinct source set, and a distinct enforcement application. The final report synthesizes them.
Banking research.
We identify active banking relationships held by the debtor at the institution level — the checking account the debtor uses, the secondary bank they opened after the judgment, the business operating account tied to an affiliated LLC.
Banking research is the single most load-bearing layer of a California enforcement file. A bank levy is only as good as the institution on the writ. If the account isn't there, the levy serves no one.
Brokerage & securities research.
Debtors with meaningful assets frequently hold them in brokerage accounts, managed portfolios, or self-directed IRAs. These positions are invisible to a public-record search and equally invisible to a standard skip trace.
For Peninsula debtors in particular — venture equity, RSUs, concentrated public-company stock — the brokerage layer is often where the collectible value actually lives.
Corporate entity linkage.
Post-judgment debtors restructure. A family LLC absorbs the house, an S-corp absorbs the income, a holding entity absorbs the brokerage position. Each restructuring leaves a record — if you know where to look.
We perform SSN-to-entity linkage across California and the states the debtor is operationally connected to. The output identifies entities formed since the judgment was entered, registered agents, officer overlap, and operational addresses.
California real property research.
We query the county recorder in every California county the debtor has a documented connection to — ownership, grantor/grantee transfers, trust deeds, judgment liens, tax liens.
Most usefully for enforcement: we flag transfers that occurred after your judgment was entered. A post-judgment transfer into a family LLC, trust, or third party is the pattern courts evaluate under the UVTA (California Civ. Code § 3439 et seq.).
Every record is legally obtained.
Every method is documented.
All financial research is conducted under permissible purpose as defined by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. Post-judgment enforcement of a legal obligation is a recognized permissible purpose. Research is conducted through licensed data providers operating within GLBA compliance frameworks.
No financial records are accessed through pretexting, social engineering, phone impersonation, or any method outside California and federal law. A copy of our research agreement, which includes our compliance representations in writing, is available upon request before you sign.
Submit the judgment.
We'll scope the research.
A short intake. You'll have a flat-fee quote or an honest decline within one business day. No sales calls. No automated follow-up past the response.