Step 1: Make Urgent and Official Reports First
Do not begin with a private intake form when someone faces immediate danger or a crime is in progress—call 911. Use the appropriate police non-emergency route for suspected crimes when there is no immediate threat. Contact the bank or payment provider quickly for unauthorized transfers or account compromise, and do not let private fact-finding delay an insurer, regulator, court, or agency deadline.
Some matters have specialized reporting and recovery channels. Identity-theft victims can create a recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov; consumer fraud can be reported to the Federal Trade Commission. Suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult can be reported through Florida's Adult Protective Services. Save confirmation numbers, report identifiers, contact names, and dates.
Step 2: Write the Case Question and Intended Use
Reduce the matter to one factual question that additional evidence can answer. Include the relevant person or entity, time period, location, disputed fact, deadline, and the decision that follows. “Find everything about this person” is not a workable assignment; “Verify the current address associated with this identified witness so counsel can evaluate lawful service options” provides a defined purpose.
State how the result will be used: personal decision, civil claim, family matter, insurance file, business transaction, employment decision, internal review, police report, or another purpose. If litigation, a court order, a represented party, employment law, or compulsory process is involved, ask counsel to define the legally relevant issue first. List every agency, attorney, insurer, bank, employer, or other investigator already involved so work is coordinated rather than duplicated.
Step 3: Build a Timeline and Preserve Original Evidence
Create a chronology with exact dates and times where known. For each event, record who was involved, what happened, where it occurred, how you learned it, which file or source supports it, and what remains uncertain. Keep facts separate from assumptions. Add known identifiers such as full legal names, aliases, birth year when lawfully held, companies, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, usernames, vehicles, transaction references, case numbers, and witness contact details.
Preserve original emails, messages, photographs, videos, voicemails, statements, contracts, receipts, account alerts, and exported records. Keep the original file and make a working copy; do not crop, annotate, recompress, rename repeatedly, or forward material through tools that may strip metadata. Capture the full context and source URL for online content. Avoid confronting a suspected person, logging into someone else's account, installing tracking software, or asking friends to obtain information deceptively. Record what you collected, when, from where, and by whom.
Step 4: Verify the Provider and Prepare for Intake
Confirm the individual and agency through the official FDACS license search. Ask who will perform the work, whether an intern or subcontractor will participate, and which agency accepts responsibility. Florida section 493.6111 requires a licensed agency to include its agency license number in a written bid or offer; review the license and written-offer requirements.
Prepare a short intake packet rather than an unfiltered archive: the one-sentence question, chronology, key identifiers, deadline, intended use, safety concerns, prior reports, best supporting records, names of involved professionals, and budget range. Ask for a secure transfer method before sending sensitive files. Do not provide passwords or unnecessary medical, financial, or intimate data.
Step 5: Approve a Phased Scope and Decision Point
The written scope should identify the authorized question, proposed methods, exclusions, location, staffing, estimated hours, rates, retainer, expenses, approval thresholds, reporting cadence, stopping conditions, and deliverables. A first phase might verify identity and available records before surveillance or travel is authorized. Each phase should end with a decision: stop, report, verify a specific gap, or approve the next defined step.
Agree on what the final product will be—report, chronology, records package, observation log, media, witness memorandum, briefing, or another deliverable—and how uncertainties will be labeled. No investigator can guarantee that a person will be located, a witness will cooperate, surveillance will capture a specific act, money will be recovered, police will act, or evidence will be admitted. The assignment purchases authorized effort and documentation, not a predetermined conclusion.
When the intake is ready, submit the Florida investigation request form. For expectations after engagement, review the five-stage investigation process.