Finding missing or hiding persons

Unlike in the US, cases consisting of finding missing or hiding persons are rare in Hungary. Naturally, we accept assignments of this kind, mainly in civil law suits when, for example, we have to establish the whereabouts of a co-op’s owner, or when a family member disappears. Another case type is when an individual goes into hiding from his or her creditors. This kind of investigation is an integral part of lawful debt management proceedings, which is one of our specialties. Finding missing and hiding persons requires meticulous work and patience. As a first step, we try to get as much information as possible about the missing person from our client since he or she can provide relevant data that will later be the basis of our investigation. During the preliminary conversation with our client, there are several pieces of information that we need to get:

• a detailed physical description of the missing person and a recent picture of him or her,
• the exact circumstances of his or her disappearance,
• data about his or her habits, hobbies, illnesses, and suicidal tendencies, if any,
• known friends and lovers, their addresses, workplaces, phone numbers, email addresses, plus close acquaintances, former schoolmates etc.,
• favourite bars, clubs and restaurants and other frequented places,
• all available data of the missing person’s schools and jobs,
• and any other information that might help the investigation.

After having gathered all the available data, we formulate theories on the possible reasons of the disappearance. Our client can assist greatly with these versions, that will form the basis of the actual investigation. The data gathering is more or less the investigation itself of the whereabouts of the missing person. The process might involve open and covert hearings and visual reconnaissance. We have to keep on checking the different theories until we get an explanation – backed up by hard facts – as to what really happened. Naturally, the case is solved once we find the missing person, or can give our client comforting news regarding the missing person’s whereabouts. Finding hiding persons is almost the same as finding missing persons, with the difference that we have to prepare ourselves for the individual in question trying to find new hiding places. This can hardly be avoided, even if we have abundant information about the person, therefore it’s useful to have a conversation with the person and trying to solve the problem that caused them to go into hiding. We naturally invite our client or his or her representative to participate in order to close the case as soon as possible.