How our Records Discovery service works
Your subpoena came back with seven years of statements, and you still have to prove separate property. Here is exactly what we do about it, step by step, with two real cases.
10 short steps. Tap Next or just scroll.
Statements are available for the last seven years only.
The balance you need is from before the statements start.
That balance helps show what was there before the marriage. Then we trace what happened to that money.
So first, we dig into who kept the records, year by year.
We start with what you already have, and what your office already tried.
Then we write the requests for you.
Complete transaction history, including deposits, withdrawals and transfers.
Balances by employee and employer contribution source.
Running contribution totals, using the plan's own record labels.
Ask for the data, not the statements.
When the statements stop at seven years, the transaction data behind them may go back much further.
| Date | Source | Type | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Each date | Employee | Contribution | $ |
| Each date | Employer | Match | $ |
| Each date | Rollover | Transfer in | $ |
Then we read every page.
The subpoena went to Empower.
Empower sent only 2023 to 2026.
So we identified who kept the records before Empower, and the right name for the annuity company.
The client had TIAA accounts from the early 1970s.
About 21 years of marriage.
And TIAA said the statements only went back seven years.
So we wrote one letter for the client to send, using TIAA's own term:
as of a specified date
In under three weeks, it came back.
Then we kept telling the client what to ask for next, until the full marital history was documented.
Then we traced the whole account.
proved as separate property.
From here, we take it all the way to the order.
The same firm that found the records traces them, calculates the number and writes the order. Nobody has to start over with your file.
If your subpoena came back with seven years, send me what you have.
We will help you ask for the right records to prove separate property.
Records Discovery is a flat $1,500. Tracing is a separate service, and we quote it after we see the scope.
Start the short records inquirytovaretirement.com/records-discovery