What should be in a Status or Pre-sue report?

Before commencing proceedings to recover owed money, it is important to find out if the debt is recoverable in the first place. You do not want to go through an entire court process only to realise that the person or entity that owes you money is unable to pay you.

That means you must find a way to ascertain the subject’s current financial status and their ability to meet their financial obligations. There are people who owe you who will never be in a position to pay you even if a judge rules in your favour.

The solution

Fortunately, there are investigators who will write reports that will tell you all the information that you need to know about the subject. This report is known as a status report or a pre-sue report.

A status or pre-sue report is a vital tool when it comes to identifying an individual’s or business’ current status. At the same time, it can also give you an insight into the most effective strategy that you can use when pursuing a claim.

Here are some of the steps an investigator will take in the process of coming up with a report:

  1. Conduct searches in media and also the internet.
  2. Finding out the subject’s properties and their estimated worth.
  3. Confirmation of trading address of the company or residential address of the individual.
  4. Check the subject’s credit history. This includes insolvency and bankruptcy searches.
  5. Confirm the subject’s current employment status.
  6. Check details of connections between the subject and any companies.
  7. Conduct searches at the land registry to confirm ownership of any property linked with the subject.
  8. Check the subject’s marital status and details of any dependents.

Armed with the information collected, the investigator builds a detailed profile of the individual/company you want to engage in court. A pre-sue report makes it much easier to establish susceptibility to bankruptcy or insolvency.

One big advantage that most investigators have is access to many databases where they can get a lot of information that an ordinary person would not be able to get. They also have a team of people to help in the collection of this vital information.

Able Investigations can carry out in-depth status reports to help you determine if it is worth proceeding to the courts to recover a debt. For help with pre-sue reports and to get more information call our team on 0345 366 0000 or fill out our contact form.

Steve Wood is Managing Director of Able Investigations with over 25 years experience in enforcements and investigations. Writer of two books, Steve is a renowned expert on Bailiff Enforcement action, Bailiff Law, traveller removal, tracing techniques and process serving.
Steve Wood
Managing Director of Able Investigations
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