This Skip Tracing and People Finders article is from MLQ Attorney Services, an attorney services firm in Atlanta, Georgia

Skip tracing involves finding people that don’t want to be found or don’t know they are being sought.  You can use dedicated people finders or do it yourself, although it can be very time-consuming unless you are skilled at finding people.

People disappear deliberately for a number of reasons, including hiding from the law, avoiding debt or hire purchase repayments, and avoiding child maintenance payments. A skip tracer might also be needed to find beneficiaries of wills, long-lost loved ones or missing persons, and those intentionally missing are much more difficult to locate, even by seasoned people finders, than those who are unaware that someone is looking for them.

Anybody can find someone if they know how to, and have the knowledge and contacts to search deeply enough, so what can a professional do that you can’t? Not that much in fact, but the thing is the professional can start now, while it would take you weeks, or even months, to learn how to access the various records available, such as bankruptcies, court records, prison inmates, sex offenders,  drivers licenses, UCC searches and property records.  That is just a small part of the list.

If you can get access to credit card records and other components of the paper trail, you should eventually be successful. However, as with so many of these types of searches, it is not what you know but who you know that counts. That is something that only experience and respect breeds.

Skip tracing therefore, although possible to be effectively carried out by amateurs given the time, is best passed to the professional people finders if you want a quick result as opposed to having a few months or more to spare.