Money leaves a record when it moves through an institution and almost none when it does not. That single fact decides most financial evidence questions: a bank transfer is nearly self-proving, a cash payment between relatives is nearly unprovable, and a great deal of ordinary life happens in the second category. This subject sets out what tax returns, pay records and statements actually establish, how a transfer is traced, and what can be done about money that was real but left no trail.
Tracing a transfer means documenting every step between the money's origin and its destination, with records from both ends of each movement. Chains break at intermediaries, at cash conversions and at pooled accounts. Building one requires records rather than explanation, and the useful presentation is a dated schedule with a document behind every row.
