Financial investigations
Solvency investigation: know what your opponent is really worth
Suing an insolvent party means paying twice. Before you issue proceedings, sign a contract or pursue recovery, we establish the actual financial surface of the person or company you are dealing with.
A judgment is only worth the estate of the person who must satisfy it. Lawyers, enforcement officers, recovery departments, landlords and companies all ask us the same question before committing costs: is it worth it? The solvency investigation answers with facts, at a flat fee known in advance, one of the very few published on the market. This page explains what the investigation covers, what the report contains, the legal framework and the exact price.
What exactly is a solvency investigation?
A lawful investigation establishing the actual capacity of an individual or company to pay: professional situation and apparent income, visible assets, lifestyle, ongoing proceedings, signs of organised insolvency. It informs the decision to act, or to walk away in time.
Unlike a credit score or a company database, a solvency investigation does not merely compile what is on file: it confronts the declared with the real. A company with a flattering balance sheet may be a shell; an individual “without resources” may drive a recent car and holiday abroad. Our CNAPS-licensed investigators document what the databases do not show.
It also differs from the deeper asset investigation, which inventories seizable assets one by one: solvency answers “can he pay?”, assets answer “where to seize?”. The two often work together.
One more distinction matters in France: information that is public (registers, legal publications, what anyone can observe in the street) versus information that is protected (bank accounts, tax files, medical data). A serious solvency investigation works entirely within the first category, and is worth nothing if it strays into the second, because unlawfully obtained material gets the whole report excluded.
When should you commission one?
Before issuing proceedings, to check the lawsuit will have a counterpart; before signing, to size up a partner, tenant or buyer; before relaunching recovery, to choose between enforcement, instalments or write-off; before settling, to negotiate at the right level.
- Lawyers and litigators: calibrating a claim, assessing a protective seizure, preparing enforcement of the coming judgment
- Enforcement officers: directing enforcement towards what actually exists
- Companies: a major client, a strategic supplier, a takeover candidate, verify before exposing your cash
- Landlords: rent arrears, choosing between proceedings and a payment plan, see also unpaid rent
- Individuals: a substantial family loan, unpaid maintenance, an indemnity never received, knowing the truth before spending on lawyers changes everything
What does the report actually contain?
Verified identity and actual address, professional activity and apparent employer, visible real estate and vehicles, related corporate structures, observed lifestyle, published proceedings, and a clear conclusion: solvent, partially solvent, apparently insolvent, or suspected organised insolvency.
Every heading is sourced: public registers (including legal publications and the trade register), field observation, open sources. The report also flags what deserves a second look, a recent property transfer to a relative, a business continued under another structure, a declared residence that does not match real life.
| Your situation | The question to settle | What the investigation brings |
|---|---|---|
| Unpaid debt, proceedings considered | Is the lawsuit worth its costs? | Actual financial surface, reasoned recommendation |
| Judgment obtained, enforcement stalling | Where can the enforcement officer act? | Actual address, apparent employer, visible assets |
| Major partnership or contract | Will this partner hold? | Economic reality behind the declarations |
| Settlement negotiation | At what level to settle? | Documented payment capacity |
| “Insolvent” debtor | Is the insolvency organised? | Chronology of transfers, body of evidence |
How do we proceed, and within which legal framework?
Open sources, public registers and field verification, under CNAPS licence and the GDPR (legitimate interest: preserving or enforcing a right). No access to banking or tax files, the FICOBA register of bank accounts remains reserved to the enforcement officer holding an enforceable title.
That is precisely where the complementarity lies: with a title, the French enforcement officer (commissaire de justice) can query FICOBA to find accounts; he cannot spend three evenings establishing that an “insolvent” debtor actually runs the shop registered in his partner’s name. We do that second job, the reality check, and the officer does his, each within his own framework.
In practice: documentary analysis (legal publications, listings, press), OSINT (online activity, asset listings, outward signs), then targeted observation in public space. The report states the source of every finding, the condition of its enforceability.
How long does it take, and how do you start?
Allow two to four weeks for a complete investigation, less for a simple verification. You send us the debtor’s identity, the file’s key elements and your objective; the written scoping goes out within 24 hours and the investigation starts as soon as the quote is approved.
Free confidential consultation: we validate together that the investigation makes sense for your file, if not, we say so.
Written scoping: scope, flat fee, deadline. The legitimate interest is documented in the mandate.
Investigation: documentary work, open sources, fieldwork, with a checkpoint when the first results land.
Report: a decision-ready summary up front, sourced findings behind, delivered to you alone or to your counsel.
Individual or company: does the method change?
The principle is the same, the sources differ. For a company: filed or unfiled accounts, legal publications, cross-checked directors, real premises versus domiciliation addresses. For an individual: apparent employment, visible property, vehicles, observed lifestyle. In both cases, the real outweighs the declared.
Legal entities leave a rich documentary footprint: registrations, annual accounts (or their repeated absence, itself a signal), published liens and pledges, capital links with other structures. Our work is to cross that material with the field: does the displayed warehouse exist, does the announced headcount match the comings and goings, does the officially dormant business carry on under another sign?
Individuals demand the opposite: few public documents, much observation. Actual address (often different from the declared one), effective employment, assets used daily, durable outward signs rather than one-off appearances. That is the detective’s core craft, and something no database will ever replace.
Two typical files, anonymised
A convicted building contractor, officially “insolvent”, whose business carried on through his brother’s company, enforcement redirected, debt recovered; a business-takeover candidate whose displayed wealth rested on dormant companies, the sale suspended before signature.
The reappearing contractor. After judgment against a project manager, the first enforcement measures come back empty: no activity, no address. The investigation establishes that he de facto runs a new structure registered in his brother’s name, with the same worksites and the same vehicle. The file returns to the enforcement officer on concrete grounds, and the debt is recovered in stages.
The buyer in a hurry. A shopkeeper is about to sell his business to a pressing buyer with glowing references. The investigation reveals companies without real activity, two pending proceedings and a lifestyle financed on credit. The sale is suspended, and the seller avoids financing, in effect, his own defaulting buyer.
How much does it cost?
Our solvency investigation is a published flat fee: €850 (excl. VAT) file-opening costs, then a balance of €750 on delivery of the report, i.e. €1,600 excl. VAT maximum (excluding the real-estate module). The first consultation is free and confidential.
If you extend the assignment to an asset inventory, each identified property is invoiced €250 (excl. VAT) in addition, see the asset investigation. Simple verifications and volume files get a tailored quote.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a solvency check and an asset investigation?
Is it legal to investigate someone’s finances?
Do you have access to bank accounts?
Can the report be used in court?
What if the investigation concludes the insolvency is organised?
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