You wouldn’t think old bankruptcies are a place worth checking when hunting for assets. If someone’s bankrupt, it means they are essentially out of money, right?

Wrong, at least sometimes.

We have found all kinds of wonderful material when looking at bankruptcies. Some of it leads right to assets, and some leads to a non-financial

In a country in which people can form a company in minutes over the internet, it’s amazing to us how many asset searches proceed on the basis that you only need to look for property owned directly by a person.

So often, we find that someone can truthfully state at a deposition that he owns

Although a no-brainer when it comes to contemplating divorce, it’s remarkable how often couples forget about old bank accounts they thought had been emptied and closed, but turn out to be active and full of money.

This happened recently to one of our clients, who discovered a major cash purchase made by his wife when

Grandchildren of the late Judge Leander Perez, a segregationist political boss who ruled Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana from the twenties until his death in 1968, recently filed a so-called “legacy lawsuit” against several large oil companies for allegedly polluting land on which the family held mineral rights.  The glaring problem with the plaintiffs’ case is that

Last week, Curtis Harold DeBerry, owner of the Texas-based Progreso Produce Company, was arrested and accused of cheating investors, business partners and banks out of millions of dollars over the past few years.  He now faces up to 30 years in prison.

According to the criminal complaint, DeBerry hid assets by transferring money

Whitney St. John and James B. Fairchild’s acrimonious divorce began in 2011, and the couple has been fighting over how to divide their fabulous collection of art and antiques ever since.  With no amicable resolution in sight, last week, a Suffolk County judge ordered the couple to liquidate their possessions and equally divide the proceeds. 

PROBLEM:

The debtor, whose family lives in Brazil, claims to have no foreign investments.  He mentioned years ago that his family had some rental properties in Sao Palo, but you have never seen them, and you don’t know exactly where they are located.  You suspect that he may be a part owner.

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SOLUTIONS:

The

Last week, a Tennessee judge fined Oprah Winfrey’s father, Vernon Winfrey, $70,000 in legal fees as punishment for bad behavior during his divorce.  According to the judge’s decision, Mr. Winfrey used some fairly complicated maneuvers to avoid splitting the value of a barbershop he owned with his soon-to-be ex-wife while at the same time