The money moved. Fraudulent transfer investigations in Washington.
A transfer made to beat a creditor can be undone. First someone has to find it.
Washington's Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, chapter 19.40 RCW, lets a creditor reach property a debtor gave away or sold cheap to keep it out of reach. The statute supplies the remedy. The record supplies the proof, and the proof is almost always a date: when the deed was signed, set against when the demand letter arrived.
What counts as a fraudulent transfer?
The statute names two kinds. A transfer made with actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud a creditor, and a transfer for less than reasonably equivalent value by a debtor who was insolvent or about to be. Intent is rarely written down, so RCW 19.40.041 lists the signs a court may consider: the transfer went to an insider; the debtor kept using the property afterward; it was concealed; it came after the debtor was sued or threatened with suit; it was substantially all the debtor's assets; the debtor absconded; the value received was not reasonably equivalent; the debtor became insolvent shortly after; it came shortly before or after a large debt was taken on. Every item on that list is a fact, and most of those facts are in a public record somewhere. Our work is to find them, date them and document them.
Where does the record show it?
At the county recorder, first: a quitclaim deed to a spouse, a child or a trust, with a real estate excise tax affidavit that says "gift" or shows a price a stranger would never have accepted. At the Secretary of State: an LLC formed the month after the demand letter, and a change of governors that moves control to a relative while the debtor keeps the keys. In the UCC index: a security interest granted to a family member that puts them ahead of you. At the Department of Licensing: a boat or truck retitled. On the court docket: a divorce decree that awards the debtor's spouse everything, or a confession of judgment to a friendly creditor. In the probate file: a disclaimer of an inheritance. Each instrument carries a date, and we lay those dates against the docket of your claim, the demand letters and the debtor's known financial trouble. The pattern that results is usually plain enough to read without argument.
How long do I have?
Less than you think, which is why the search should come first. Under RCW 19.40.091 a claim is generally extinguished four years after the transfer, with a one-year window after discovery for actual-intent transfers that were hidden. In bankruptcy, the trustee's own avoiding power reaches back two years from the petition under the Bankruptcy Code, and further where state law allows. Those are the outside limits and the calculation belongs to your lawyer. The practical limit is shorter: the transferee sells, refinances or spends, and a transfer that could have been unwound becomes a money claim against someone who has nothing left. The sooner the deed is found, the more there is to recover.
What about the person who received it?
The transferee is the other half of the case, and usually the half nobody has investigated. A transferee who paid real value and took in good faith has a defense; a brother-in-law who paid nothing does not. So we work the transferee the way we worked the debtor: what they owned before the transfer and what they own now, whether the property was flipped onward, whether they refinanced it and where the cash went, whether they ever used it or simply held it while the debtor kept living there. Where the transferee is an entity, the registry, the registered agent and the governors usually lead straight back to the debtor. Where the transferee is a stranger, we find out whether they are one.
What does counsel get?
A chronology, first: every transfer, filing and docket entry on one timeline, with the instruments attached. An entity chart where the debtor used companies. The assessor's values and the recorded prices, so the gap between them is visible. The transferee's record. Interviews, where they help: the former bookkeeper, the business partner who was squeezed out, the tenant who still pays rent to the debtor on a house the debtor no longer owns. And a declaration from a licensed Washington investigator that your lawyer can file with the complaint or the trustee's adversary proceeding. Bankruptcy trustees and creditors' counsel are the clients we most want for this work; the bankruptcy asset search page describes how we fit into a case in the Western District.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Whether a transfer is voidable, and the deadline to challenge it, are for your lawyer. Statutes cited are Washington's. Last verified October 2026.
Watched the assets walk out the door?
Tell us who owed you, what they owned, and when things started moving. We will pull the record, build the timeline, and tell you whether what you suspect is on paper. Fixed fee for the first pass; trustees and creditors' counsel, we work to your deadlines.
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