SHORT ANSWER · ASSET TRACING
What is asset tracing?
Asset tracing is following money or property from where it started to where it ended up, through bank, card, check and brokerage records. It answers questions like whose money bought a house, or where stolen funds went. It depends on complete statements: in Matter 25-117, one missing April statement leaves a 3,664.55 hole in the trail.
DEFINITION
What is an asset tracing?
Asset tracing is following a specific sum of money or piece of property from its source, through every account and transaction it passed through, to where it is now.
WHERE IT’S USED
What kinds of matters use asset tracing?
Any matter where someone has to show where money went. Choosing a tool? See the best asset tracing software.
| Matter | What gets traced |
|---|---|
| Divorce | Separate funds through joint accounts into a house or an investment |
| Fraud and embezzlement | Money taken from a business to the accounts and payees that got it |
| Insolvency | Money moved out shortly before a filing |
| Estates and trusts | Funds spent or moved by someone acting for another person |
This isn’t legal advice. Courts and jurisdictions set their own rules for how tracing is done and what it can show.
ZeraBooks builds the workflow around your matters and your template for free. No development charge, whether it’s a forensic department or one person.
THE ORDER OF WORK
How does an asset trace come together?
- 1
Collect every account
Statements for every account the money could have touched, for the whole period.
- 2
Prove the statements
Each one ties to its printed balances and each month follows the last. ZeraBooks does this, and flags a gap like the one between 18,240.55 and 21,905.10 in Matter 25-117.
- 3
Follow the money
Move from account to account, transfer by transfer, as set out in how do you trace funds through bank accounts?
- 4
Summarize it
Put the trail in a schedule, or step back to the whole picture with what is a flow of funds analysis?
Who does asset tracing?
Forensic accountants and litigation support teams, usually working with the lawyers on the matter.
What records do you need for asset tracing?
Bank, credit card, check and brokerage statements for every account involved, plus deeds and loan papers wherever the money leads.
Can software do the tracing for you?
Software can read and prove the records. ZeraBooks builds your tracing schedule around the matter for free; the judgment about what the trail shows stays with the expert.
FREE CUSTOM BUILD
A trace is only as good as its statements.
Prove them first.
ZeraBooks ties every statement and flags the month nobody produced before you follow a single dollar.