Tracing

This lesson reviews the process of tracing wrongfully diverted money or property through a series of exchanges. Students are expected to have a basic familiarity with in-specie remedies such as replevin and constructive trust. The lesson provides problems for students to consider practical evidentiary issues in locating and proving the identity of property and to practice the application of rules for tracing funds into and out of commingled accounts. The lesson will be most useful for review by students in remedies, debtor-creditor or bankruptcy courses.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of the lesson, the student will be able to:

1. State the most common approaches to tracing of property used in various settings.
2. Discuss some methods to follow a client's property and funds through various transactions.
3. Identify the general prerequisites for the legal in-specie remedy of replevin and other equitable restitutionary remedies.
4. Discuss two main approaches to tracing funds into and out of commingled accounts.