If you are going through a child custody battle you might want to consider hiring a private investigator.
The most important thing to understand when you are involved in a child custody battle is that it is absolutely necessary for you to have all the facts on your side accumulated prior to going forward into court. You don't want to go into court without having gathered a sufficient amount of evidence that shows you are best fit to have custody of the child.
The role of a private investigator taking part in a child custody case is to make sure their clients are armed with the evidence they need so they can win their case. A private investigator performs a number of functions to gather information, such as surveillance, background checks, conducting interviews, and more. Ultimately, they help you gather the ammunition you need to go into court and win your custody battle.
In this guide to "Hiring a Private Investigator for Child Custody," we will break down how private investigators help during a child custody investigation and what you, the guardian, can expect when going forward into court.
When you are enduring a child custody battle, each legal guardian faces the court of law and presents their case. After taking all the facts into consideration the court then makes a decision on how custody should be divided with the child's best interests in mind.
Many factors going into making this decision, such as the parents' lifestyle and ability to provide a stable and safe environment for the child, as well as treatment and guidance that will assist the child in developing into a self-sufficient adult, along with other factors.
There are a number of different kinds of custody you might be fighting for. Legal custody provides you with the right to make decisions in regard to your child. The next form of custody is physical custody. Physical custody means that the child is within the legal guardian's care, such as living in their house. There is also sole and joint custody. Sole custody means you have full custody whereas joint custody is shared amongst both legal guardians.
Each child custody case is fundamentally different, but there are a number of common cases that often take place. Private investigators along with your legal team will take a different approach depending on the type of case you are facing.
A custody dispute happens when two parents/guardians, who have been separated for some time, fight over who will take care of their child. They may argue over the child’s primary residence, parenting time, visitation schedule, and more. In this type of case, evidence is crucial when trying to prove it is within the best interest of the child to stay with you, have this visitation schedule, and so on.
If you believe the other parent to your children is violating one of the provisions in the custody order provided by the court, you can have them brought back into court and disciplined. Common violations include one parent keeping the children from the other parent even though there is a court-ordered custody schedule in place, failing to pick the child up during agreed-upon times appointed by the courts, or not providing the type of environment that would benefit the child. In these types of cases, a private investigator will work toward acquiring the necessary evidence to prove any of these claims in court.
Abuse and neglect of a child is an incredibly serious issue that must be addressed as soon as possible. In these types of cases, a private investigator will work quickly to gather evidence that can be used to prove the neglect and/or abuse and have them removed from that dangerous situation that the child could be settled in.
If the other parent of your child is suspectedly involved in cohabitation with another individual, this can affect your custody situation and child support payment. If they are not reporting this action, then proof of cohabitation is crucial to proving this to the court.
When you are involved in a child custody case, surveillance can be a very valuable way of gathering evidence. Surveillance is simply the art of closely watching someone in their natural setting. In child custody cases, a private investigator will follow the suspected parent and document their actions and whereabouts throughout the day.
Surveillance is a great method to use when you suspect the other parent might be up to something. For example, if you are seeking sole custody of your child and there were reports that they have been violent towards past/present romantic partners, it would be beneficial for you to hire a private investigator to conduct surveillance on your child's other guardian. You could find out firsthand if they are violent by watching their every move and documenting this potentially violent behavior. Using this as valuable evidence is a great way to win your custody case.
What private investigators in child custody cases can do is conduct background investigations on other people who are involved within the case. They can do this by gathering information from friends, family members, ex-spouses, neighbors, or even business associates looking for anything that might provide you with an advantage when it comes to your child custody case.
Another common practice private investigators in child custody cases engage in, is the collection of testimonials from witnesses. The private investigator will interview people that might have been involved with the other parent and gather every bit of information given to them, whether it's their character or any shady actions they may be up to. For example, if you are seeking sole custody of your child and you suspect that their other parent is up to no good, private investigators can interview the other parent's co-workers or even business partners in order to get information that can help you.
A private investigator can help you uncover the other parent's financial assets in order to get you support for your child. If they suspect that the other parent is hiding their money or has given false information about it, private investigators will conduct thorough investigations to determine what their monthly income is and use it as evidence against them when child support becomes an issue.
When private investigators are contacted to conduct investigations on someone involved in a child custody case, they typically turn over all the evidence they have collected to their client. However, private investigators can also be called upon by either parties counsel or even the judge of the case to testify about what they found out.
Universal Investigations Agency, Inc. provides private investigators who take part in child custody investigations throughout South Florida. We provide private investigators specializing in surveillance and background checks as well as those that conduct interviews and collect testimonials from witnesses. Contact Universal Investigations to hire private investigators for your case!
