John Guzzardo and Rick Rein wrote an article for NABT American Bankruptcy Trustee Journal regarding the use of Consent Directives to locate offshore assets. A consent directive is a "rare bird" investigatory tool that litigants in the US may use to discover assets and information from debtors or third parties located anywhere in the world. Recently, the Ninth Circuit Bankruptcy Appellate Panel held that the Bankruptcy Code permits and authorizes trustees to utilize consent directives in the administration of their estates. It would appear that chapter 7 trustees now have another arrow in their quiver to identify, and ultimately recover, hidden offshore estate assets.
The full article, "Bankruptcy Trustees Can Utilize Consent Directives to Locate Offshore Assets of the Debtor" was published in the NABT American Bankruptcy Trustee Journal, (Vol. 34, Issue 4) in the Fall of 2018 for its subscribers. Read the full article here.