Guides & Answers
What Is Skip Tracing? How Law Firms Find Someone to Serve
Skip tracing is finding a current address for someone who has moved or cannot be found at their last known address. In a lawsuit it is done before service of process, so the server goes where the defendant or witness actually is. Results are checked before anyone relies on them.
Skip tracing is the work of finding someone who has moved on: a person who is no longer at the last address you have for them and has not left a forwarding one. Collectors and investigators have long used the term, but for a law firm it usually means one thing: a defendant or witness has to be served, and nobody knows where they live now. This post explains what a skip trace is, what it needs, where the results come from, and how it fits with service of process in California.
What skip tracing means in a lawsuit
Most service methods depend on knowing where the person can be found. Our guides to personal service in California and substituted service walk through what each requires. When the only address in the file is several years old, a server sent there spends attempts and finds a new tenant or an empty unit.
A skip trace is meant to fix that before the first attempt, or right after the attempts show the person has moved. It is also useful when a company's agent cannot be found at the listed address and an officer is being served instead; our post on how to serve a California corporation explains who can be served for a company.
What a skip trace starts from
A trace starts from a name. Anything else you hold narrows the search and makes the answer more certain:
- the last known address, or at least a city, state or ZIP code
- a date of birth or approximate age, which separates two people with the same name
- a phone number or an email address
- your case number or internal reference, so the result comes back matched to the right file
A common name with nothing else attached is the hardest case. Two or three extra facts often decide whether a result points to the right person.
Where the results come from
Professional skip tracing draws on licensed data sources and public records. Some of that data is regulated: federal law limits how personal information from motor vehicle records may be used, and lists the permitted uses. One of them, in 18 U.S.C. section 2721(b)(4), is use in connection with a civil, criminal, administrative or arbitral proceeding, including the service of process. That is why a reputable trace is tied to a stated purpose, and why the person ordering it certifies that the purpose is permissible.
What comes back is not automatically true. Databases lag behind moves, and a single record can attach an old address to the wrong person. A careful trace checks a result against other records before it is released, and a result that cannot be corroborated is reported as a no-hit rather than a guess. When you receive a result, look at how recent the address is and whether more than one source supports it.
What you can do yourself first
The California courts' self-help guide, Look for someone you need to serve, lists searches anyone can try: asking family, friends and former employers or co-workers, searching online and on social media, checking county property records, and looking up jail and prison inmate locators. It also tells you to write down what you tried, the date, and the result, so you can show the judge. Our post on serving court papers without an address covers what to do with that record.
A paid trace does not replace that diligence. It adds sources that a person searching the web does not see, and it gives you a dated result for the file.
Skip tracing and reasonable diligence
When a person truly cannot be found, California allows service by publication, but only with a court order. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 415.50, a summons may be published if it appears by affidavit, to the court's satisfaction, that the party cannot with reasonable diligence be served in another manner the statute allows. The court then orders publication in a named newspaper most likely to give actual notice.
The same section sets one limit on what a court may demand. Section 415.50(e) says the court may not require a search of public databases where a registered process server's access to residential addresses is prohibited by law or by the agency's published policy, naming voter registration rolls and Department of Motor Vehicles records as examples. A skip trace and a written record of other searches are among the ways a filer can show the effort that was made. Whether the effort is enough in a given case is for the court to decide, and a question for you or your attorney.
From a result to a served party
- Order the trace with every fact you hold, and the case number so it is filed with the matter.
- Read the result: the address found, how current it is, and any phone numbers or other details that came back.
- Dispute a bad result if the address is outdated, rests on a single weak data point, or belongs to the wrong person.
- Send the server to the address the trace found, and keep the trace with the attempt records in case diligence is questioned later.
On Legal Hub Group, skip tracing for attorneys costs $25 per successful trace on standard pricing. A trace that finds nothing reliable closes as a no-hit and is not billed, and a released result can be disputed within 14 days of release, before it reaches your invoice. You can enter one subject or upload a CSV or Excel list, and once the person is found you can order process serving in California at that address from the same account. Our overview of how to serve someone in California covers which method to use once you have the address.
After service, the case moves to filing. California e-filing through Legal Hub Group is $14.99 per filing plus court fees, and every fee is shown before you pay. Before you file, Lexary by Legal Hub Group is free with every filing, with no limit: it flags missing signatures, dates, addresses and case details and fixes file formats, so problems can be corrected before the papers go in.
This is general information, not legal advice.
Questions
What does skip tracing mean?
Skip tracing means locating a person who has moved or cannot be found at their last known address. Law firms use it to find a current address for a defendant, witness or class member so papers can be served there.
Is skip tracing legal?
It is done for lawful purposes, and locating a party for service of process is a common one. Federal law, for example, allows motor vehicle record information to be used in connection with a court proceeding, including the service of process (18 U.S.C. section 2721(b)(4)). Whether a particular purpose qualifies is a question for you or your attorney.
What information is needed for a skip trace?
A first and last name at minimum. A last known address, city, state or ZIP, a date of birth, a phone number or an email address all make the search faster and the result more certain.
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