A divorce investigation is a defined record for a separation, not a hunt. The useful version starts with one sentence a lawyer can use: who met, where money went, or whether parenting time matched the order. The useless version starts with “follow them until you catch them.” This page is the first kind.
What a divorce investigation is for
People ask for one when a decision is already in front of them. A spouse may be deciding whether to separate. A lawyer may need dates before a conference. A parent may need a record of exchanges that keep going wrong. The investigator does not decide the marriage, the support number, or the parenting schedule. They write what was seen, or what a document the client had a right to use actually says.
That is narrower than a commercial infidelity page. If the only question is a suspected affair, the service lane is infidelity investigations. This article stays on the divorce file as a whole: the question, the record, and the limits. It does not repeat that service’s offer.
Reasons investigators actually see
- A suspected affair. The record is who met, when, and where, from a lawful place. Timing patterns are a separate article, when people are most likely to cheat. A calendar is not permission to follow someone onto private property.
- Money. Hidden spending, a second household, or an account the client already has a right to review. The duty is the paper. It is not a promise of secret databases.
- Parenting time. Exchanges, missed days, or an unsafe visitor a lawyer asked about. The child’s case has its own page, child custody investigation. Do not treat a divorce article as the custody decision.
- A hearing date. Notes that match the order or the issue counsel will actually argue. Length does not make a log more useful.
None of these reasons authorizes hacking a phone, reading an account that is not yours, or putting a device on a car. Those requests are refused because they wreck the file you were trying to build.
What the report should contain
Dates, places, and what was seen. Photographs from a public spot the investigator was allowed to be. Gaps written as gaps. A sentence the investigator did not see should not appear in their voice. If you want your conclusion in the report, it has to be a fact they observed or a document you had authority to give them. The report should be boring. Boring is what a lawyer can explain.
Whether that packet can be filed is not automatic. The court decides. Read whether investigator evidence is admissible in court before you spend a month hoping a judge will repair a sloppy scope. Bring counsel in before the hours if a hearing is already set.
What to refuse in the quote
Refuse a quote that leads with a car, a tracker, or a promise to stay with someone “until something happens.” Ask which hours are covered, how many people are staffed, and what you will be handed if the window is empty. An empty evening is a result. Knowing a person was at home with the children, or was not at the address you were given, is often the fact that ends the question.
Also refuse any pitch that treats a divorce as a licence to punish. The notes are for a decision. They are not for a confrontation in a driveway, a post on social media, or a threat. If you are unsafe, call the police. An investigator is the later question, after the immediate risk is handled.
How a divorce file stays separate from other pages
Toronto commercial searches belong on the homepage. The question of what a private investigator does all day belongs on the behind-the-scenes page. Weekend staffing belongs on the weekend article. This page only answers what a divorce investigation is asked to record, and where that record has to stop. If your search was “divorce investigator” because you are ready to hire, you still need a sentence, a licence check, and a lawyer who will read the result. The label on the invoice does not choose the method.
Bring addresses you already have a lawful reason to know, dates you are sure of, and any order that limits contact or parenting time. Leave out rumours from a group chat. An investigator can test a lead you can source. They should not be asked to start from a suspicion and invent the rest. Write the negative result into the scope so a quiet night is a completed job.
Call (416) 205-9114 if you need one of these questions scoped for an Ontario separation. Bring the hearing date if you have one, and the exact issue the notes have to speak to. A general fear that the marriage is over is not yet a duty an investigator can perform without guessing.
To learn more, contact Investigation Hotline at
