Service fails when the defendant is not where the file says. That is why Diligencias Legales de Puerto Rico operates inside a network of licensed investigative firms in the United States with a presence in the Dominican Republic. When the address fails, we do not report the attempt and wait: we locate.
Locating before service (skip trace)
Before the first attempt, or when the first fails, we verify the address through commercial databases, CRIM property records, the Department of State, voter records, vehicles, employment, social media and neighborhood interviews. The result is a confirmed address and a pattern of presence, not a list of possible addresses. Locates are quoted separately and only when needed.
Investigations in the United States
Poindexter & Associates, Inc.
Licensed private investigation firm serving law firms across the mainland. For the Puerto Rico attorney it offers locates of defendants and witnesses, background and asset verification, surveillance, insurance and surety claims investigation, witness interviews, and service of process in all fifty states through servers licensed in each jurisdiction.
poindexter-associates.comPrivate intelligence in the Dominican Republic
Poindexter Global Intelligence
Private intelligence and investigations division with offices in the Dominican Republic. Due diligence on Dominican persons and companies, locates of debtors and defendants who have relocated to the island, verification of real property and companies, fraud investigation and coordination of judicial service with Dominican bailiffs. Attorneys with cases that cross the Mona Passage find here a single point of contact in Spanish and English.
PoindexterGlobalIntelligence.comHow an address is investigated in Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico has features that defeat databases built for the states: subdivisions (urbanizaciones) with numbered streets that repeat across municipalities, mailing addresses that do not match the physical residence (P.O. boxes and rural routes), and steady migration to Florida and Texas that leaves addresses valid on paper and empty in fact. Our protocol starts with the CRIM (real property and taxpayer records), continues with the Registry of Corporations and the Property Registry where entities or real estate are involved, cross-checks vehicle records, professional licenses and public court dockets, and ends in the field: neighbor interviews and observation of the property at different hours. Only then is the first attempt scheduled.
When to locate before attempting
- When the address in the file comes from a contract or note more than two years old.
- When the defendant is an entity whose resident agent has resigned or whose office is in a vacant building.
- When there are signs the defendant moved to the mainland or to the Dominican Republic.
- When fewer than 60 days remain in the term and a failed attempt cannot be afforded.
- When the defendant is expected to evade and a pattern of presence is needed to catch them.
What the investigation adds to the file
- Locate report with sources searched, dates and result, usable as an exhibit to the affidavit of attempts for publication.
- Photographs and field verification of the confirmed address.
- Identification of resident agents, officers and entity addresses for corporate service.
- An investigator available to testify about the efforts made.