Gather as much information on the person you wish to locate. Start a file. Almost all professionals begin with a file in some form. Write down all of the person's identifying information: Full name and any aliases, date of birth (DOB), previous addresses, Social Security number, driver's license number, automobiles, license plates, telephone numbers, places of employment and those telephone numbers, note occupation (most states require licensing for certain professions), names of friends and relatives, places the person likes to socialize, and anything else you come up with.

Begin with the phone book or directory assistance. I've been paid well to dial 411. Write down all the persons with the same surname as your subject; e.g., if you are trying to locate John Doe in Anytowne, USA, write down all the Does, they could be relatives. Call those people. Here's where we get into some interesting stuff. Say you won a small claims judgment and are trying to locate your debtor. Your debtor may very well be attempting to hide. Now, you can't very well call up any one of those Does and say, "This stinkin' guy with your same last name owes me money! Now tell me where the no good looser lives!" In a scenario like this one, not only have you scared the bejesus out of some poor Doe who may or may not be related to your debtor, but you potentially have scared off your debtor, making him skip town. There's a technique that professionals use. Investigative Journalists are very familiar with it, too. It's called the "ruse", or "pretext". It's our First Amendment right to lie. A little pretext goes along way. Let's replay the above scenario again, but this time we use the "ruse", or "pretext": "Hi! This may sound strange to you. But I'm trying to find John Doe . . . Oh, my name is Whatever . . . yeah, me and John go way back. School, ball games . . . (You have to be careful what you say here ,for obvious reasons) , worked together in the construction business. Haven't seen him in ages! What's he been up to? Hey, do you have his number by any chance? Where'd I get your number. Directory assistance. Yeah, he spoke about you last year when we went fishing. I'd love to get a hold of him. Thanks a lot. Now you take care." You have to be creative, but not outrageous. Assume the person you are calling is intelligent and cautious; they could also very well be rude. Keep this in mind, too, "You can attract more flies with honey than you can with vinegar". Ask yourself what you would believe if someone called you asking for the same information. Write what you are going to say down on paper. Read it back aloud to yourself until you get it right. Then make your call.

DANGER! DANGER!: There are laws in most states that forbid a person from representing themselves as the following: law enforcement, any government official or employee, and legal counsel. I would go as far as to not recommend the use of an established business such as AT&T, Microsoft, NBC, Planet Hollywood, Hard Copy . . . Get the idea? There may or may not be criminal ramifications, depending where you live, but there may very well be civil ramifications. These guys can have attorneys crawling in every crevice of your life!

What if I don't know what city the person lives in? Or state? Have you contacted all friends and relatives that you know? Are you sure? Are you positive you didn't overlook one possibility? Okay, this where we start getting into the research part of the gig. Ask yourself about your subject. What kind of person is this? Does this person have to have a license to run a particular kind of business in a state? Where would this person's parents live? Where might this person live?

Again, begin with Directory Assistance and Telephone Directories that cover the state you wish to search. Call your local library and ask if they have out of state telephone directories and what years. If they do not have the directories you are looking for ask which library would have those. You can also call most state capitals to locate their respective state's telephone directories. Most state capitals have their respective state's telephone directories dating back for years.

What if you have NO idea whatsoever where your subject may be? Begin looking for the subject's relatives.

What if there are no leads for relatives? Hire a professional to conduct some simple Nationwide searches for you. You should be able to get a listing of persons with the same name as your subject for $40.00 to $100.00. But please be aware that a large number of professional investigators are not too crazy about working for such little money, but then again you may get lucky and find someone who would be happy to help out. Note that if you're searching for a judgment debtor, in most states you can attach the fee's incurred from collecting the judgment onto the principal amount of the judgment.

What if you can't afford a professional? You are really going to do a lot of legwork. This is often the case with judgment debtors who have skipped. Contact the subject's former employers, co-workers, or employees. If you're lucky, these folks will have a grudge against your subject, too. Note that people are creatures of habit. A person who is likely to commit improprieties in one instance may very well do the same elsewhere. This means that there may be a good chance that one of the people you contact could have a similar experience to yours. They may or may not be willing to share the information they have. But, there is always a good chance that your contact will say, "Yeah, I heard John Doe moved to Alabama or somewhere." Okay, that's a good start. Ask your contact where he heard this. Try to validate his statement without insulting him. Then follow up on his lead. It could very well be nothing. Maybe it was Arkansas and not Alabama. Continue to dig. You may have to exhaust all your contacts. But that's part of the game. Unless the guy is a complete loser or in jail, then you stand a good chance of finding him. Even if he is total loser you can find him, but he probably won't have anything worth levying to satisfy your judgment.

Search court records. There can be a wealth of information in civil, criminal, and bankruptcy records. If you're searching bankruptcy files you will be able to find out if he has claimed bankruptcy, and whether or not you can make a claim against his estate, or simply whether or not it is worthwhile pursuing. You can also find his social security number, DOB, spouse, other persons involved, and list of assets and liabilities at the time of filing bankruptcy. We have also seen copies of Federal Tax returns, divorce settlements, and abstracts from other civil cases. If you search criminal and civil records, you may also find additional identifying information, such as spouse, addresses, aliases, etc. Add these to your list and follow up on them.

Search Vital Records. Vital Records (Vitals, Vitals Statistics, Vital Stats, etc.) are birth, death, and marriage records. Say you feel that knowing your subject's parents would be helpful. If you can locate his birth certificate, his parents will be listed on the certificate. Say you feel that your debtor has vested all his assets in his wife's name, but you don't know the spouse's name: search the marriage records. For this reason you may also find it necessary to know your subject's spouse's or ex-spouse name.

Search Department of Motor Vehicle Records. Note that many states have restrictions on DMV searching and some states forbid the general public from accessing those records. However, you could very possibly locate an address, vehicles registrations, or a driving record. The search criteria for DMV records varies. Some states require full name and date of birth, others require a social security number, and others require an arbitrary driver's license number. You may also be able to search using your subject's license plate, so always take plate numbers down.

Search Voter Registration Records. These are still public in most places, but note that a lot of people do not vote. However, if you do not find your subject listed you may find his parents, brother or sister. Also, you will have to call around to see which city or county would have the records for your subject's address - voter registration, like other matters, is jurisdictional.

Search Tax Roll Records. See the city or county office that has jurisdiction over your subject's address, and search for property tax bills, personal property tax bills, and excise tax bills.

Search for Business License Records. You may have to dig to see which agency controls this. It may be the state, the county, or the city in which your subject's business OR residence lies in. It may also be in one, all, or any combination of the three. And they may all contain different information.

Contact the appropriate Better Business Bureau. They may be able to help.

Search real estate records. Most states have several County Recorder's Offices which record all real estate transactions in the given county. Go to the county recorder's office in the county in which your subject resides or has resided. The records will usually be indexed alphabetically, by date, and by grantor (seller) and grantee (buyer). Search both indices. Search by your subject's name, aliases, spouse's name, and all possible spelling combinations of his name. Again, know that information has to be passed through many hands before it reaches an index. Keep in mind that it is very easy to create a typographical error in that process. So it is paramount that when searching you have to exhaust all possibilities. Also keep in mind that people will use their initials in their names. So locate where this will be in the index. For example, Z. Doe might be listed in the Z's OR he might be listed at the very beginning of the index. Look at both.

Article By: InfoGuys.com