Long story short.

My dad had a business with 2 partners. He was the senior of the 3 and put the most into the business. It was a small aerospace engineering co. and grew steadily over ten or so years. It was doing pretty well up until 911 when the bottom fell out of the market and the business struggled to keep its head above water and was forced to close.

My dad being the oldest and most secure financially (he was 65 at this point and had paid off his mortgage and the house he paid £35k for in 1980 was now worth £500k) so he was the one who had to find the £250k they owed the bank. One of the partners managed to remortgage and contribute most of his share but the other went through a divorce where he lost all equity and the only hope he had was to set up again doing similar stuff. It almost worked for a while before succumbing to the pressures and going similarly bust. From there he’s kind of disappeared.

My dad has been working for the last 10 or so years to pay rent on a place but now at 75 he’d like to retire. They have some reserves, enough to buy somewhere in Wales but the money Partner No2 owes would significantly help things.

My dad has written off the debt but I’m not quite so willing to let it go.

Being as he has a very generic name and is old enough to be off social media is there any way of finding Partner No2?

I’d start with a director search on companies house.

And I wouldn’t underestimate the “Grey” users of Social Media. “Facebook is for Grannies” the kids tell me.

It almost worked for a while before succumbing to the pressures and going similarly bust.

He may have died of stress related problems?
So he’s gone bust twice & you still expect some dough off him?

(Apologies if you mean something else/if I’m on the wrong track)

If ever there was a lesson in working via a Ltd Co. it’s this, but I guess the OP already knows that.

When I worked in a bank it was pretty easy to trace people via their credit records, but that not an avenue open to you or any legit PI provider. I’m guess they’re going to trawling the voter rolls.

Before you decide to go ahead, it’s worth considering, how likely are they going to be to be able to pay their share? If they are, will they? Do you have a contact or the like which proves them liable? Are you willing to spend thousands to trace and then enforce it?

My guess is that they’re probably not going to be in a better position than your Dad, I guess they’ll also be of retirement age themselves now? Are they going to want to hand over big lumps of their retirement fund for a 18 year old debt that’s likely to be completely unenforceable?

I’m not sure that even if you find him you’ll be able to get £80k out of him.
Is there legal documents to say he owes this or was it “the company’ and those that could covered the money?

My dad has written off the debt

Honestly, what do you think your chances of finding him and then recovering any money are? My guess is that you’ll end up throwing good money after bad, suffer years of stress, and be worse off than if you just accepted that the money is gone.

Probably worth looking into whether the debt is statute barred or not before you spend money tracing the chap.

Sorry to say – but that ship has sailed. The money would have been owed by the company, and you dad unfortunately was the one the main one the creditors went for (they always go for the easiest). The time to get money out of Partner No.2 was then.

Your only chance is if Partner No.2 has a conscience – which is doubtful after all these years.

Probably worth looking into whether the debt is statute barred or not before you spend money tracing the chap.

The original debt would have been settled – the only ‘debt’ now is an unwritten one between ex business partners.

He was an honourable guy who always promised that he’d pay his share and he had an elderly mother who he was expecting an inheritance of some kind from (she at least owned her own home).

It’s a long shot and while I think my dad has somewhat made peace with it I wouldn’t feel right if I at least didn’t try and chase it up. I don’t want to put him through it but I’d at least like to ask the guy a few questions. If he can’t pay, he can’t pay but I can imagine it’s easy to forget about such things if you’re not constantly being reminded of it and you’re reasonably comfortable. Some people’s consciences are bigger than others.

Unsure anyone would forget a debt of that amount…unless they have far bigger debts being chased for repayment.

He was an honourable guy who always promised that he’d pay his share and he had an elderly mother who he was expecting an inheritance of some kind from

If he was an honourable guy and had the means to settle the debt I would have thought he would have by now, so either he doesn’t have the means or isn’t so honourable after all – either way I really can’t see this being anything other than a huge waste of time & money trying to trace someone that seems very unlikely to repay an old debt.

Despite the naysayers I think it is probably worth a nudge, we found out that my dad was owed £4.5k by a supposed friendly book seller, only took a couple of phone calls to said fella & he was able to pay up over a few months. Is it possible that the debtor has also lost contact and is actually willing and able to pay up?

You could try these – http://www.tremark.co.uk. Have used them successfully in the past to trace individuals.