Is it legal to hire a private investigator in Florida?
Simply put, yes, it is legal for you to hire a Private Investigator in Florida. Private Investigators are regulated and licensed by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) in accordance with Chapter 493, Florida Statutes (F.S.). You can learn more about the license regulations here:
https://www.fdacs.gov/Business-Services/Private-Investigation-Licenses
There are, however, some limitations as to what we can and cannot do. We also have certain regulations that we must abide for – one of them is displaying the active license somewhere on the website.
In Florida, there are two kinds of licenses that every private investigator must have. An “A” License, which is issued to the investigative firm, and a “C” License, which is given to the individual private eye.
An investigator with a C License needs to be attached to an agency that is licensed in the state of Florida.
If the Agency does not have a Florida license, then their investigators are not allowed to perform any investigations and or testify in court as the testimony will not be admissible in court.
What About Out of State Investigators & Agencies?
There are many out-of-state agencies that do not have a license in Florida and try to perform work in Florida. This is not allowed since any agency out of state must be hired initially out of state and are limited to how many days they can work in Florida. Some states are not granted permission to work in Florida at all.
To get around this issue, these investigative agencies hire a local agency in Florida at a discounted rate. That agency then needs pays a field investigator to handle the case at extremely low wage in order to turn a profit.
Not only is your data being shared across multiple parties, but the investigators are trying to save as much money as possible to try and make a profit.
If you have a case in Florida, we recommend working with an agency that is local to your case. That way you can rest assured that your data will be shared with a single agency and that the investigator is familiar with Florida laws/regulations.
