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Dallas-Fort Worth Forensic Accountantfor Divorce, Fraud, and Business Disputes
In Dallas-Fort Worth, the hardest financial questions usually land in one of two places: a contested divorce with a business or a large estate in the middle of it, or a company that has just discovered money is missing. Both need the same thing. Someone has to follow every dollar through the bank records, show the work, and stand behind it when the other side pushes back.
Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, Denton
One metroplex, two court systems
DFW is not one legal market. It is several, and a single case can touch more than one:
- Dallas County state district courts, with appeals to the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas. Federal cases go to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.
- Tarrant County state district courts in Fort Worth, with appeals to the Second Court of Appeals in Fort Worth. Federal cases go to the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division.
- Collin and Denton Counties, home to Plano, Frisco, McKinney, and Denton, have their own district courts. Federal cases from those counties go to a different court entirely: the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, which sits in both Sherman and Plano.
Couples and companies in the metroplex often bank in one county, live or operate in another, and file in a third. We organize the records once, as a single engagement, and prepare findings for whichever forum the case ends up in. We list these courts as geographic context, not as a claim that we have appeared in each of them.
Texas community property
Divorce forensic accounting in Dallas and Fort Worth
Texas is a community property state. Under the Texas Family Code, property either spouse holds when the marriage ends is presumed to be community property, and a spouse who claims an asset as separate property has to prove it by clear and convincing evidence. In a long marriage with commingled accounts, refinanced homes, and a family business, that proof lives in years of bank statements. That is exactly where a forensic accountant earns their fee.
For Dallas and Tarrant County family law attorneys and their clients, we:
- Trace separate and community property through commingled accounts, so a separate-property claim rests on documents rather than memory.
- Look for hidden or undisclosed assets, including transfers to relatives, unexplained cash withdrawals, side accounts, and money parked inside a closely held business.
- Analyze business income when one spouse controls the company's books and the reported income looks too low for the lifestyle.
- Document reimbursement and waste claims, where community funds paid down separate debt or one spouse spent marital money outside the marriage.
- Prepare for mediation and trial with schedules a mediator or judge can follow.
Learn more about our divorce forensic accounting and why tracing matters in community property cases.
Corporate investigations
Corporate fraud, embezzlement, and business disputes
Dallas is known as a home for corporate headquarters, banking and financial services, and commercial real estate. Fort Worth adds aviation and aerospace, defense manufacturing, and natural gas production tied to the Barnett Shale. Thousands of closely held companies sit between those large employers. Wherever money moves, someone eventually takes some of it.
When a DFW business suspects a bookkeeper, executive, partner, or vendor, we reconstruct the transactions, identify each scheme, measure the loss, and document the evidence trail for counsel. That may mean billing schemes, payroll fraud, check tampering, kickbacks, or a partner quietly paying personal expenses with company money. See our corporate fraud and embezzlement investigations.
When the dispute is already in litigation, we help plaintiff and defense attorneys get the right records in discovery, build damages models, and test the opposing expert's numbers. See business litigation support. Ed's investigative background includes shareholder derivative suits, Ponzi and advance fee schemes, and oil-and-gas-related fraud, which matters when an investor dispute in North Texas turns out to be something worse.
The IRS-CI difference
A fraud investigator trained by IRS Criminal Investigation
Most forensic accountants in Dallas and Fort Worth are CPAs from audit and tax practice, and many do excellent work. Our angle is different. An IRS Special Agent's job is to prove financial crime beyond a reasonable doubt, to people who are actively trying to hide it. Ed Martin did that for 25+ years. He was the lead agent in the investigation into the disappearance of Madalyn Murray O'Hair and her two adult children, a case covered in two published books. He holds an accounting degree, is a Certified Fraud Examiner, and has testified as a financial expert.
That background shows up in the work:
- We assume records may be incomplete and rebuild the money trail from banks and third parties.
- We write reports for a skeptical reader, because opposing counsel will be one.
- We know when a civil matter is drifting toward criminal exposure, and we tell counsel early. If IRS Criminal Investigation is already involved, see our IRS criminal investigation defense support.
Sage Investigations, LLC holds Texas Private Security Bureau license PSB #A10803. We are not a CPA firm; we are associated with licensed CPAs and do not perform audits or attest to financial statements.
From Austin, up I-35
How we serve the metroplex from Austin
Our Austin office is roughly 190 to 200 miles from downtown Dallas and downtown Fort Worth, about three hours by car straight up I-35, with frequent flights as an alternative. Day to day, that distance does not matter. Records come to us securely, and our own DIO software organizes and traces thousands of transactions across accounts far faster than manual review. See DIO technology.
When the case needs a person in the room, such as for a client interview, a working session with counsel, mediation, a deposition, or trial, we come to Dallas or Fort Worth.
FAQ
Dallas-Fort Worth forensic accounting FAQ
Do you have an office in Dallas or Fort Worth?
No. Sage Investigations has one office, at 4103 Westbank Dr, Austin, TX 78746. We serve Dallas, Fort Worth, and the surrounding counties from there and travel when the case requires it.
When should a divorce attorney bring in a forensic accountant?
Early, ideally before discovery requests go out. A forensic accountant can tell you which records to ask for, spot gaps in what the other side produces, and start tracing before mediation deadlines get close. Waiting until just before trial limits what can be done.
Can you find assets my spouse is hiding?
We can follow the money in the records that are produced or subpoenaed, and that is how most hidden assets are found: deposits that do not match reported income, transfers that lead to accounts nobody disclosed, or business expenses that are really personal. We report what the records show. We do not promise a result before we have seen them.
Our case involves both Dallas and Tarrant Counties. Is that a problem?
No. The money does not stop at the county line, and neither does our analysis. We organize the records once and can support filings or testimony in Dallas, Fort Worth, or both.
Are Plano and Frisco cases handled in Dallas?
State cases are filed in Collin County district courts. Federal cases from Collin and Denton Counties go to the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division, rather than the Northern District. We can support matters in any of these courts.
Will you testify as an expert witness in DFW?
When an engagement calls for testimony, Ed Martin can serve as a testifying expert and will travel for depositions, hearings, and trial. See forensic accounting expert witness.
How do we start?
Call 512-659-3179 or request a consultation. Family law attorneys may request a free 20-minute consultation. Other clients may request a free initial phone consultation.
Next step
Get a former IRS Special Agent on your DFW case
Whether it is a divorce in Dallas County, an embezzlement in Fort Worth, or a partnership dispute in Collin County, the answer is in the records. Call 512-659-3179 or contact Sage Investigations. Before you hire anyone, read what you should know before hiring a forensic accountant, or learn more about Ed Martin.
Serving all of Texas
Also serving these Texas metros
Sage Investigations is based in Austin and takes on work throughout Texas. The pages below describe how we serve each metro from our Austin office.
Austin
Travis County. Our office. Forensic accounting and financial investigation for Central Texas, and the starting point for work across the state.
Learn more →
Photos: Carol M. Highsmith, Dallas skyline, public domain, Library of Congress (Public domain).
