Infidelity Investigation

Austin and Central Texas

An infidelity investigation documents where a person goes, when, and who they are with. It is surveillance applied to one question, sometimes supported by records and open-source research. What it produces is a record of what was observed during the hours worked. It may confirm what you suspect, it may not, and there is no way to know before the work is done.

Most people who contact us about this have been turning the same question over for a while and want to stop guessing. That is a reasonable thing to want, and it is worth being clear about what an investigator can actually do about it.

What we will not do

This section comes first because it is what people ask about most often on this particular subject.

We do not place tracking devices on a vehicle you do not own. In Texas, installing an electronic tracking device on another person’s vehicle without their consent is a criminal offense.

We do not install monitoring or spyware software on a phone, computer or account belonging to anyone other than you. Depending on what is installed and what it captures, that can violate both state and federal law.

There is no version of the circumstances that changes either answer. Beyond the legal exposure, evidence obtained that way tends to create a problem for the person who commissioned it rather than for the person it was aimed at, which is the opposite of what you came for.

How the work is done

The core of it is surveillance: an investigator observes from a discreet position and records what happens. Billing is hourly with a four-hour minimum, and the rate depends on whether the operation runs with a single vehicle or with two at the same time. The clock starts when the investigator sets out for the location; inside the Austin area it stops when the operation is terminated, and if the operation goes outside the Austin area it stops on arrival back in Austin.

How many hours a case needs varies, and it depends on what is observed and whether the goals of the operation are met. The hours can be spread across more than one day rather than spent in one sitting, which is frequently the better approach when the question concerns a pattern rather than a single evening. Where an operation does run across several days, we work from three different vehicles and avoid using the same one twice in a row.

Two other services sometimes support the work. A vehicle sightings search can show where a vehicle has been photographed over the past several years, which often tells us where and when to be before anyone is in the field and can make the hours you buy count for more. Social media investigation and records research can establish who someone is and what they have published about themselves.

Timing matters. Sometimes the right move is to wait for a particular day rather than start immediately, and we will say so if we think it will produce a better result.

What the evidence can and cannot settle

Surveillance records what happens in view of the investigator during the hours worked. That is a real kind of evidence and a bounded one. A subject who does nothing unusual across four hours produces a record of a subject doing nothing unusual.

An uneventful period is not proof that nothing is happening, and it is not proof that something is. It is a record of those hours. We will not stretch it in either direction, and we would rather tell you that plainly at the outset than have you read it into a report later.

We present what we find, or what we do not find, and leave the conclusions to you. That is deliberate. You are the one who knows the rest of the situation, and an investigator drawing conclusions about a relationship from four hours of observation would be doing something other than his job.

Whether we take the case

Usually, yes. But the consultation runs both ways: it is where we work out whether the case is one we can help with and whether the investigation is the right step, and Max makes that call based on the conversation.

We will not take a case where a protective, restraining or no-contact order is in effect against the client with respect to the subject, and we will not conduct surveillance intended to stalk, harass, threaten or intimidate anyone. The written agreement includes a certification you sign before any work begins. This is not a formality on this service in particular.

Before you commit the money

Two things worth thinking about, said once and not laboured.

Consider what you will do with the answer, in both directions. People are often clearer about wanting to know than about what knowing will change, and it is easier to think that through now than after a report is in your hands.

If there is a legal matter in prospect, a divorce or a custody question, talk to a family lawyer first, or at least early. What is useful to a lawyer is not always what feels most compelling to read, and a short conversation before the surveillance starts can change what we are asked to document.

What you receive

A written report covering the hours worked: dates, times, locations, movements, and what was observed at each. You receive the video recorded during the operation, and the frames that matter are reproduced inside the report so the account and the images can be read together.

Everything is confidential. Afterwards you can call a real person and talk it through, which on this service matters more than most.

Frequently asked questions