Bank & Financial Institution

Art. 18.02(a)(10) — account records, statements, transaction history

Part of the Warrant Path template library. Templates last updated 2026-09-20 — what that date does and doesn’t mean.

What this covers

A general Chapter 18 evidentiary warrant for a bank or financial institution's own business records on an account holder — statements, loan files, wire records, and similar — as opposed to a payment app's transaction data.

Property / data categories

• All open/closed checking or savings accounts: signature cards, statements, canceled checks (both sides), deposit tickets, ATM/POS records, debit/credit memos, wire records, 1099s
• Bank loan/mortgage files: applications, ledger sheets, disbursement records, correspondence, collateral agreements, credit reports, notes/instruments
• Certificates of deposit purchased or redeemed and related interest/1099 records
• Safe deposit box records: applications, signature cards, access logs
• Cashier's/bank/traveler's checks and money orders purchased, including purchase documents and retained copies
• Wire transfer files: authorization requests, source-of-funds and disposition documents
• Currency Transaction Reports (IRS Form 4789), Suspicious Activity Reports, and Currency/Monetary Instrument Reports (IRS Form 4790)

Controlling authority

• Art. 18.02(a)(10) — Grounds for issuance — property constituting evidence of an offense.
• Art. 18.01(b)-(c) — Affidavit requirements and particularity.
• Art. 18.04 — Contents of the warrant.
• Art. 18.07(a) — 3-day execution deadline, exclusive of issuance/execution days.
• Art. 18.10 — Return and inventory requirement.

Common defects to check for before filing

• The uncited non-disclosure order — not independently grounded in a statute; confirm the basis with your DA each time
• Overbroad date range or account scope, e.g. sweeping in every account where the suspect is 'an authorized signer' with no tie to the offense
• Naming the wrong legal entity for the bank (mergers/acquisitions change registered names and legal-process addresses)
• Using this business-records framework when the real target is content of a specific wire/communication that may need Subchapter H treatment instead
• Requesting every category by default — use the checklist to narrow to what your facts support, and remember it's one shared date range across every selected category except account-opening documents; if one category genuinely needs a different window (e.g., surveillance footage around a single incident vs. a longer statement history), say so in the probable-cause narrative rather than relying on the date fields alone
• Requesting surveillance footage/images without narrowly tying it to a specific transaction or date — bank surveillance often incidentally captures uninvolved third parties

[Bank name] — e.g. Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or any other bank — service notes

• Where: Varies by institution — confirm the bank's current legal-process address; SEARCH's ISP List and Law Enforcement Guides (search.org/resources/isp-list) is a suggested first stop. search.org ISP list
• What it takes: Bank name and address, suspect identifiers (name, race/sex, DOB, DL#, FBI#), and the account/date range to search.
• Timing: Standard Chapter 18 timeline — 3 days to execute (Art. 18.07(a)), return/inventory within 3 days of execution (Art. 18.10); no Subchapter H 11-day execution / 15-business-day compliance clock applies.
• Notice: Order of Non-Disclosure included in the warrant, but not tied to a specific statute (unlike Art. 18B.501 for Subchapter H providers) — confirm with your prosecutor.

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