1–2: Locate a Witness or Verify an Identity
1. Locate a willing witness for counsel. A licensed investigator may compare lawful address and public-record sources, resolve same-name conflicts, document confidence, and make a non-coercive contact attempt under counsel's instructions. The goal is a verified contact route or a documented no-result—not guaranteed cooperation. Missing children, endangered people, fugitives, and emergencies belong with law enforcement and the relevant official systems first.
2. Verify that a person or claimed identity connects to the right records. This can matter before a transaction, after suspected impersonation, or when records appear to refer to different people. The work should use multiple identifiers and originating sources, acknowledge stale or incomplete data, and avoid declaring a database match conclusive. A PI cannot obtain protected records without a lawful purpose or permitted access.
3–4: Document Conduct or Reconstruct a Timeline
3. Document relevant conduct from a lawful vantage point. In a counsel-directed family, insurance, business, or civil matter, defined observation may record dates, locations, movements, and visible activity. It cannot guarantee the subject will appear or that conduct has a particular meaning. The plan must respect private property, court orders, safety, local authority, and restrictions on tracking or recording.
4. Reconstruct a factual chronology. Investigators can organize client-held communications, transactions, access records, photographs, reports, public filings, and witness accounts into a source-linked timeline. A chronology often reveals missing periods, inconsistent identifiers, or the next record to request. It should distinguish direct observations, third-party statements, allegations, and inferences rather than converting sequence into proof of intent.
5–6: Trace Public Records or Preserve Online Material
5. Trace a business or asset lead through official public sources. Work may compare names, entity relationships, disclosed officers, property or court records, and other originating documents. Florida's Sunbiz search covers state business filings, while the SEC provides an official company filing search for relevant federal filings. Neither source is a complete asset search, and absence from one system is not proof that an asset or relationship does not exist.
6. Preserve public-facing digital material before it changes. A scoped collection can record full URLs, account identifiers, dates, surrounding context, media, and acquisition steps. It should preserve originals where possible and avoid account intrusion, password sharing, impersonation, or redistributing sensitive content. A screenshot alone may omit provenance and does not guarantee identity or authenticity.
7–8: Support Counsel or Investigate a Business Loss
7. Perform a defined litigation-support task. Counsel may direct witness location, interviews, scene documentation, public-record retrieval, chronology work, or evidence preservation. Attorney direction can align the question with legal relevance, but privilege and admissibility are not automatic. Florida Statute 90.901 states the authentication requirement; read the official provision.
8. Develop facts around a specific business loss or allegation. A PI may help compare invoices, vendor representations, access histories, disclosed relationships, public records, and willing-witness accounts. Counsel, HR, finance, IT, auditors, or law enforcement may need to lead other parts. The investigator reports evidence supporting and contradicting the allegation and should not decide discipline, criminal guilt, or legal liability.
9–10: Test Leads or Coordinate Multiple Locations
9. Test a fraud, address, relationship, or asset lead before spending more. A short feasibility stage can determine whether identifiers resolve, an originating record exists, the relevant location can be observed lawfully, or another professional owns the next step. A negative or inconclusive result can prevent an expensive open-ended search. No legitimate provider promises recovery, proof, or a desired finding in advance.
10. Coordinate lawful fact gathering across Florida locations. A licensed agency can define consistent instructions, source documentation, file handling, and reporting for multiple counties. Other states or countries may require separate authority and local providers. Before hiring, confirm both the agency and assigned investigator through the FDACS license search, then put the question, methods, exclusions, budget checkpoints, deliverables, and stopping conditions in writing.
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