Legal Question in Business Law in California

If there were a case pending in which bank accounts held by another party were relevant, a litigant could have subpoenas issued to all suspected banks. The litigant would have to provide a notice to consumer, thereby alerting the other party to the attempt to locate assets. Whether banks index accounts by social security number is a question to which I don't know the answer.

The use of subpoenas for this purpose by private parties would have to be in the context of a lawsuit, and could be either as non-party discovery during the suit or as enforcement of judgment after trial. A private citizen cannot just go on a fishing trip to look for accounts. I would expect to have some privacy issues raised in trying to get account-holder information by the non-party discovery route, but maybe the subpoenaed bank would cooperate.

Further, I believe the more usual and more effective way to enforce a judgment is by examination of the judgment debtor under the statutory rules making appearance and testomony under oath compulsory for the judgment debtor. You can then demand information on all accounts - location, account number, current balance, etc. This process imposes an automatic lien on the debtor's property, and if the accounts are drained out, the debtor is in deeper trouble.

I would caution you that collecting judgments is a very complex area of the practice of law, especially the aspects protecting debtors from abusive practices and exempting certain assets, and also the areas giving judgment creditors potentially powerful tools to nail deadbeats when used properly.

So, I guess the answer is yes, but the use of subpoenas in this way is greatly limited and too technical for inexperienced persons, including inexperienced lawyers, to get good results.