Miami Private InvestigationsCan a private investigator catch a cheating spouse in Miami?
Yes, within the law. A Florida-licensed private investigator can follow and document a cheating husband's or wife's movements, meetings and locations from public places, and deliver time-stamped photos, video and a written report that a family-law attorney can use. A PI cannot track a spouse's car or phone, record their conversations or get into their accounts; Miami Private Investigations (Florida agency license A1800135, Coral Gables) handles these cases across Miami-Dade in English and Spanish.
Page updated October 2026 · Florida statutes cited from the 2025 Florida Statutes on flsenate.gov
Infidelity investigations at a glance
- What it is: lawful surveillance and documentation of what is openly visible from public vantage points, so a decision rests on verifiable facts rather than suspicion.
- What the license allows: Florida licenses investigators and agencies under Chapter 493, Florida Statutes, through the FDACS Division of Licensing. It permits observation and documentation. It confers no police powers and no exemption from privacy law.
- Who stands behind this work: Taylor Wasser, President — a second-generation private investigator who worked at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office before founding the agency. The agency has been a member of the Florida Association of Licensed Investigators (FALI) since 2021. Read Taylor’s profile.
Suspecting that your partner is unfaithful is one of the hardest things a person can live with. Some clients come to us with clear warning signs; others simply feel that something has changed and can't name it. Whether you are trying to catch a cheating husband, find out whether a wife's new routine means anything, or simply stop wondering, what you need is the same: verifiable facts and unbiased documentation, gathered lawfully and quietly, so you can decide what to do about your relationship, your family or a divorce. Sometimes the answer confirms the suspicion; sometimes it shows there is nothing to find, and that reassurance is worth just as much.
Think your wife or husband is cheating? What usually brings people to us
Whether you suspect a cheating wife or a cheating husband, no single behavior proves an affair, and none of the signs below means your spouse is cheating. What usually brings people to us is a pattern that no longer adds up:
- New secrecy around the phone. A changed passcode, the phone always face-down, deleted message threads.
- A schedule that doesn't match the story. Late meetings, new gym hours, or "business trips" with vague details.
- Unexplained money. Cash withdrawals, restaurant or hotel charges, gifts you never received, or a card or account you didn't know existed.
- Emotional distance. Less interest in family time, or defensiveness at simple questions.
- A new online life. A second social media profile, a messaging app you have never seen them use, or the same unfamiliar name surfacing again and again. If the question is who someone really is, our guide on how to verify someone you met on a dating app in Miami explains what public information can show.
Why verify before you confront
Confronting a partner on suspicion alone usually produces a denial and more careful behavior, which closes the window in which anything could have been documented, and if you are wrong, the accusation itself can do damage. Investigating yourself is risky too: following someone is easy to notice, and the tempting shortcuts, such as recording calls, reading a spouse's accounts or hiding a tracker in the car, can be crimes in Florida (see below).
Suspect your spouse is cheating but have no proof? What to do this week
Most people who search for how to catch my wife cheating, or how to catch a cheating husband, are looking for a shortcut. The lawful path is slower, but it is the one that holds up:
- Write it down privately. Keep a short, dated note of what you have noticed: the evenings that didn't add up, the trips, the charges. Specific days are what make a focused investigation possible.
- Keep what is already yours. Copies of documents you already receive in your own name or jointly, such as a joint bank or credit-card statement, can help your attorney later. Do not log into your spouse's accounts or devices to get more.
- Don't snoop, track or record. Hidden apps, trackers and recordings can turn a family problem into a criminal one.
- Talk to a family-law attorney if separation or divorce is a possibility, before you act.
- Ask for a confidential consultation. We will tell you honestly whether surveillance is likely to answer your question, and when.
How does a private investigator catch a cheating spouse?
- Confidential consultation. You tell us what you have noticed; we ask about your partner's routine, workplace, vehicles, and which days feel wrong. We tell you honestly whether surveillance is likely to help, or whether another step would answer the question faster, and we can coordinate with your attorney.
- A focused plan. Good infidelity work targets specific windows (the Thursday "late meeting", the weekend conference), not open-ended watching. The plan sets the dates, hours, number of investigators and what has to be documented.
- Surveillance. Licensed investigators observe and record your partner's movements, meetings and locations from public places, without alerting them. Where it helps, we add lawful research: identifying the person your partner meets and checking public records for marital status, criminal history or aliases. See our surveillance services.
- Documentation. Every observation is captured as it happens, with time-stamped photos and video and running notes of times and addresses.
- Written report and testimony. You receive a clear written report of what was seen, when and where. If the matter goes to court, the investigator who made the observations can testify.
What can a Florida PI legally do in a cheating spouse case, and what can't we do?
Florida licenses private investigators and agencies under Chapter 493, Florida Statutes, through the FDACS Division of Licensing. The statute defines private investigation to include information about a person's "conduct, movements, whereabouts, affiliations, associations" and securing evidence for use in civil or criminal trials (Fla. Stat. § 493.6101). A license lets us observe and document. It does not give us police powers or an exemption from privacy law.
What we can do
- Conduct surveillance from public places and photograph or film what is openly visible from where we are lawfully present.
- Research public records and lawful data sources, including background research on the person your partner is seeing.
- Document publicly posted online activity (social media investigations).
- Interview willing witnesses, and testify to what we observed.
What we can't do, and you shouldn't either
- Record conversations without everyone's consent. Florida is an all-party-consent state: intercepting a call or private conversation is lawful only when "all of the parties to the communication have given prior consent" (Fla. Stat. § 934.03). A violation is a third-degree felony, and an illegally intercepted conversation, and any evidence derived from it, cannot be received in evidence (Fla. Stat. § 934.06). That covers a voice recorder hidden in the car and a call-recording app installed on a spouse's phone.
- Track a spouse's car or phone. Under Fla. Stat. § 934.425, no one may install a tracking device or tracking application on another person's property, or use one to determine their location, without that person's consent. The law gives private investigators no exemption of their own: a PI is covered only where the client would be. Consent is also presumed revoked once a spouse files for dissolution of marriage, or either person files for an injunction for protection, and a violation is a third-degree felony. We do not place trackers on vehicles or phones. Read more: Is it legal to put a GPS tracker on a car in Florida?
- Get into a phone, computer or account. Accessing a computer, network or electronic device "with knowledge that such access is unauthorized" is a third-degree felony (Fla. Stat. § 815.06). That includes guessing a passcode, reading a spouse's texts or email, or installing monitoring software.
- Enter private property or pose as someone else. We do not enter homes, hotel rooms, posted or gated property, or anyone's car, and we never pose as your spouse, or as law enforcement, to a phone carrier, bank or anyone else.
For a scenario-by-scenario walkthrough, read what a private investigator can legally do in a Florida infidelity case.
What proof of infidelity will you receive?
- Time-stamped video and photographs of what was observed, captured from lawful vantage points.
- A detailed written report in chronological order: dates, times, addresses, vehicles, who was present and what was seen.
- Court testimony when it is needed. Florida requires evidence to be authenticated before it is admitted (s. 90.901, F.S.); the investigator who recorded the footage can testify to how and when it was captured.
Because every piece is gathered lawfully, your attorney can work with it. See our guide to surveillance evidence in a divorce.
Does a cheating spouse matter in a Florida divorce?
- Florida is a no-fault state. A marriage may be dissolved only because it is "irretrievably broken" or for a party's mental incapacity (Fla. Stat. § 61.052). Adultery is not a ground for divorce, and you do not need to prove it to end the marriage.
- Alimony. "The court may consider the adultery of either spouse and any resulting economic impact in determining the amount of alimony, if any, to be awarded" (Fla. Stat. § 61.08). The types of alimony the statute now lists are temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative and durational; permanent alimony is no longer among them. The spouse seeking alimony has the burden of proving their need and the other party's ability to pay.
- Parenting and time-sharing. Adultery is not itself a listed factor, but the court weighs the child's best interests, and those factors include "the moral fitness of the parents" (Fla. Stat. § 61.13(3)(f)). A parent's conduct matters to the extent it bears on the child. See our child custody investigations.
- Money spent on an affair. The court may consider "the intentional dissipation, waste, depletion, or destruction of marital assets after the filing of the petition or within 2 years prior to the filing of the petition" when dividing property (Fla. Stat. § 61.075(1)(i)). Gifts, travel, hotels or rent paid for a new partner can become relevant, which is where an asset search can complement surveillance.
- No lawsuit against the other person. Florida abolished claims for "alienation of affections" and "criminal conversation" (Fla. Stat. § 771.01), so evidence of an affair is used inside the divorce, not in a separate suit against the affair partner.
How much does it cost to catch a cheating spouse in Miami?
Every case is scoped individually, so we don't publish a price list. What actually drives the time and cost of an infidelity case:
- Hours of surveillance. The biggest factor. A known window, such as one evening a week, needs far fewer hours than unknown times.
- Number of investigators. A subject who drives through heavy Miami traffic or moves between several locations may need more than one investigator to follow without being noticed.
- Travel. Work outside Miami-Dade, overnight stays or out-of-town "business trips" add time and expense.
- Evidence needs. A report for your own peace of mind differs from a case being prepared for court testimony.
- Timing. Nights, weekends and holidays are when many of these cases happen.
Surveillance is planned in blocks and reviewed with you as it goes, and the scope is agreed with you before the first hour is worked. Our guide on how much a private investigator costs in Miami explains each factor in more detail.
How do you keep the investigation confidential?
Your call, your identity and the details of your case stay private. Florida treats the "willful betrayal of a professional secret or any unauthorized release of information" by a licensee as grounds for discipline (s. 493.6118(1)(e), F.S.). You tell us at the start which phone number or email is safe to use, and our investigators work so the subject does not notice them.
Where in Miami-Dade do you investigate cheating spouse cases?
Our office is at 4000 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Suite 470, in Coral Gables, and our investigators work across Miami-Dade County. Each part of the county asks for a slightly different plan:
- Brickell and Downtown Miami. High-rise condos, office towers, hotels and restaurants, with parking garages and valet stands. Planning focuses on lawful public vantage points and on where a person is likely to leave from, not only where they arrive.
- Coral Gables. Offices and restaurants near our own office, mixed with quiet residential streets where an unfamiliar parked car is noticed quickly.
- Miami Beach. Hotels, restaurants and nightlife reached over a handful of causeways from the mainland, which affects how a vehicle can be followed without being noticed.
- Aventura. Large shopping and dining areas and residential towers in northeast Miami-Dade, near the Broward line.
- Kendall and Homestead. Long suburban drives in the south of the county, where a case can mean longer travel between home, work and wherever a meeting takes place.
- Doral. Business parks and offices near Miami International Airport, where a "work trip" or late meeting is easy to claim.
We also work in Miami, Hialeah, Key Biscayne, South Miami, Pinecrest, Westchester and across South Florida. Divorce and time-sharing cases in Miami-Dade are heard in the 11th Judicial Circuit. For matters elsewhere in the state, see our Florida private investigator page.
Why do clients and attorneys choose Miami Private Investigations?
- Licensed and verifiable: Florida agency license A1800135. Check it yourself on the FDACS Division of Licensing lookup.
- Rated 4.9★ from 88 Google reviews.
- Veteran-led and bilingual: consultations and reports in English and Español.
- Trusted by attorneys: attorneys at South Florida law firms have recorded video testimonials about working with Taylor Wasser.
Other attorneys who have recorded testimonials include Igor Hernandez and Cam Cornish of Cornish Hernandez Gonzalez PLLC and Anthony F. Sariol of Goldberg & Rosen. See all attorney testimonials.
Guides for spouses who suspect cheating
What you can do yourself, and where Florida law draws the line.
Common warning signs, why they are not proof, and what to do next.
What Florida law says about apps, spyware, messages and car trackers.
How infidelity can matter in a Florida divorce, alimony and parenting case.
Related services
Discreet, documented observation for personal and legal matters.
Evidence bearing on a child's welfare and time-sharing.
Hidden accounts, property and spending in a divorce.
Our guide to choosing the right investigator.
How lawful surveillance is used once a case is filed.
Scenario by scenario: GPS, recordings, phones and records under Florida law.
What s. 934.425 says about tracking a car, and why a PI gets no exemption.
What drives the time and cost of a case.