Guide
Short answer
Public records that reveal undisclosed assets in a Canadian family law matter include land titles, corporate registries showing directorships and shareholdings, PPSA registrations, and court filings. Québec's registry uniquely publishes shareholders. Bank accounts and income are not public and are obtained through disclosure orders and questioning, not searching.
4 of 5 steps below you can run yourself for nothing. 5 things in this area cannot be done lawfully by anyone.
The situation
You're separating. Their sworn financial statement claims far less than you know they have — a business that suddenly shows no income, a property you were told was sold, a lifestyle the numbers don't support.
5 steps
In order of yield. Every step marked “do it yourself” is one you can run without us, with the cost stated where there is one.
Step 01
Undisclosed value in family law is most often held in a corporation rather than hidden under a mattress. Search Corporations Canada and every provincial registry for them as director, officer, or shareholder. Québec's REQ publishes shareholders and is free, so search it even for a subject with no obvious Québec connection — it sometimes names the shareholders another province's registry conceals.
Step 02
BC, Alberta, and Québec all support owner-name land title search, so a property they did not disclose is directly findable. In Ontario you cannot search by owner, so you work from the other direction: corporate registered offices, mortgage and PPSA registrations, and litigation filings that name addresses.
Step 03
These reveal vehicles, equipment, and business collateral, and they cut both ways. A newly registered security interest shortly before separation is worth explaining. So is a claimed debt with no registration behind it.
Step 04
Court filings often disclose financial particulars a spouse would rather not repeat in a family proceeding, and prior insolvencies establish a pattern. In BC and Québec you can search dockets by party name directly.
Step 05
Public records establish that an asset exists and is registered to a person as of a date. What makes it useful is being attached to a disclosure motion or used in questioning. A registry printout with a source citation and a retrieval date is evidence; a summary without provenance is not.
Honest limits
Not a paywall and not a coverage gap. Each of these is either absent from every Canadian public record or unlawful to obtain — and anyone selling it to you is misrepresenting what they have, or committing an offence to get it.
Look at their bank accounts or credit cards
Not public. Obtained through disclosure orders, questioning, or a Norwich order — through your lawyer, not a search.
See their tax returns or income
Not public. Compelled through the family law disclosure process.
Read their emails or texts
Interception of private communications is an indictable offence under Criminal Code s.184 — and unlawfully obtained material can taint your own case.
Have someone follow them or photograph them
That is licensed investigative work. We do not do it. If your matter genuinely needs it, we will refer you to a licensed agency at no charge.
Track their location or put a device on their car
Depending on the circumstances this is criminal harassment or mischief, and it will damage your credibility with the court far more than any evidence it produces.
Everything we decline at every tier, with the reason for each
Before you pay
If you do need it
This tier will not include
Questions
Public records establish what exists and is registered in their name: property, corporate interests, secured collateral, and litigation. That documentary evidence is then used in the family law process to challenge an incomplete financial statement — through a disclosure motion, questioning, or an adverse inference. The records do not prove concealment on their own; they give your lawyer the specific thing to put to them.
Searching public registries requires no notice and is lawful. Your lawyer will usually want the results disclosed at the appropriate point in the proceeding anyway, since evidence you cannot explain the provenance of is of limited use. What you must not do is access their accounts, devices, or mail — that is both criminal and highly damaging to your position.
A common pattern, and public records address it obliquely. Registry filings show whether the company is still active and in good standing. PPSA registrations show whether it is still borrowing, which is inconsistent with a business claiming no activity. Property and lien records show whether it is still transacting. A business genuinely earning nothing usually stops generating registry activity too.
No. Surveillance is licensed investigative work and we do not perform it under any tier. Our scope is the documentary and financial record. If your matter needs physical observation, we will refer you to a licensed investigation agency at no charge and take no fee for the referral.
Markdown /how-to/family-law-asset-search.md — the same content with no navigation chrome, for machine readers.