Initial Expectations

So you’ve hired an investigative agency or you’re considering hiring an agency to do some type of research for you. Maybe it’s an asset search, maybe it’s an illegal activity research, maybe it’s investigating a person’s background. Whatever the case is, you’re going to eventually get a report from that agency if it’s a legitimate agency, and that report normally would be 14 to 20 pages of results. If it’s an asset search, it’ll have bank accounts, real estate, vehicles, and maybe corporate assets.

Understanding the Findings

Whatever assets were found, hidden or otherwise, will be listed on the report. So what do you do with this? Well, the first thing to do is expect to be surprised. You may find that there are assets that you didn’t know about that this person or party has hidden from you. Maybe they put a bank account at a bank that you didn’t know about, registered a vehicle in a co-owner name along with theirs, or purchased real estate for the benefit of another person. So, expect to be surprised.

Keeping an Open Mind

Also, expect that maybe you’ll be surprised the other way. Maybe some things that you thought were happening aren’t happening. Maybe they’re hiding assets but not as much as you thought. So first of all, set aside your preconceived notions and just look at the report. Take it for what it is. Then what you want to do is make sure that the agency who did your report is going to go through it with you. At our firm, Active Intel, we want the client to receive that report and review it.

Reviewing and Preparing Questions

Usually, for 24 to 48 hours, we want you to look at it, make some notes, write down some questions, and then we’ll arrange a private one-on-one video consultation to go through it with you line by line to explain anything that’s there. You can ask questions. The reason we want you to look at it and sit on it for a couple of days is so all the questions bubble up that you may be thinking about.

Consulting with Experts

Remember, you have access to live one-on-one consultation and the undivided attention of a licensed certified expert in this subject and many others. We want to listen to your story, hear your questions, and give you expert advisement on your options. We want to tell you what we know about your situation and what options you have. If we did it right away when we sent the report, you’d have some questions, and then you might think of some things that come up later. So, we want you to marinate on that for a couple of days to really thoroughly imagine all the information that you’d like to have.

Planning Your Next Steps

The investigator or the team that worked on your report will sit there on the call with you. You want to make sure you do that because there may be some information on there that you’re not familiar with and that you want to delve more into. Then, what you want to do next is think about how you’re going to use it. If you’re involved in litigation or a court case, you want to make sure that you use it properly. You don’t want to introduce it to the other side, as that might tip them off to you recovering assets.

Strategic Use in Legal Matters

You want to get with your legal team if you have an attorney to know how to use it. Maybe you want to present it as discovery to the other side. Maybe you want to make it part of a deposition, or introduce it as evidence at trial. Either way, you want to decide how you’re going to use it—or maybe not at all. Maybe you’re not going to introduce it to the other side if it’s allowed not to do that. But get good legal advice on how to use this information to give you a better result.

Protecting Confidentiality

If you’re using this only for your own benefit, make sure that you safeguard the privacy of it because this information may have some very confidential details on it, and you don’t want that information released or out there. A confidentiality breach could compromise someone’s privacy, so safeguard it very well.

The Value of a Good Investigative Report

A good investigative report is extremely valuable. Whether it’s assets, criminal records, court records, lawsuits, employment records, insurance records, it could contain numerous pieces of information that could be very beneficial for you in making decisions, taking actions, or prevailing in your conflict.