Following and tracing: complex scenarios—chains of transactions, backwards tracing, mixed substitutions, cryptoassets, and evidential tools and remedies
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Practice notes
This Practice Note explores following and tracing and addresses several of the more challenging facets of the exercise, including tracing through chains of transactions, the idea of ‘backwards tracing’, cherry-picking in tracing (mixed substitutions), and tracing in relation to digital assets. ‘Following’ and ‘tracing’ are not causes of action in themselves, but evidential techniques for locating and identifying assets against which a claim might be brought. See Practice Note: Proprietary remedies—following and tracing. While following and tracing can sometimes be relatively simple, there are circumstances when they are especially difficult both conceptually and evidentially. A number of these issues are set out below.
Tracing and chains of transactions (inference in tracing gaps)
Where funds are pursued through multiple bank accounts across separate transactions, problems can arise in proving that the money that left one account is the same money ultimately sitting in a different account, such that a tracing claim can succeed. Nevertheless, the 2014 Court of Appeal decision in Relfo v Varsani has provided assistance. There, the evidence did not reveal a continuous chain of payments; however, the court was willing to accept that an inference could be made where there are gaps in the tracing record, and furthermore...
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Web page updated on 22/05/2026
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