Finding my spouse address

[Damian_G]

Hello everyone,

This is my first post on this forum

My name is Damian and I'm living in UK. I've been married to US citizen for 10 years now.

I'm trying to get a divorce where I live, but in order to file my papers, I need to show the court that I've tried to trace my wife in the USA.
Currently, I don't know her address and they need to know where the can send her the papers.

I was told to use people tracing services in the USA to obtain her address. If the service was unable to find her, then I should get information from them on the paper that they were unsuccessful.

Can you please advise a reliable service I could use? The google search results seem to point out automated report generating websites. I'm not sure how reliable these are, and would prefer to deal with real people. I don't live in the US and don't know any reliable companies/services.

Thank you kindly in advance

 

[adjusterjack]

If you have an idea what city or state she might be living in google private investigators for that city or state.

If you have no idea where she is located in the US try googling investigative agencies that are national in scope.

 

[Damian_G]

If you have an idea what city or state she might be living in google private investigators for that city or state.

If you have no idea where she is located in the US try googling investigative agencies that are national in scope.

Thank you for a quick response,

Do you by any chance know how much these private investigators might charge? I know that most likely she lives in Florida.

 

[bcr229]

I know that most likely she lives in Florida.

Florida is one of the easiest states for tracking people down because of its "sunshine" law; information from court records, real property ownership, voter registrations, etc. is public info and many counties make it available online with no charge to look it up.

 

[Dandy Don]

Would probably be charged $100-$300 (in US dollars) by an investigator, and ask for a receipt that mentions the exact services the investigator performed and the names of the databases he searched. First, try the free website myfloridacounty.com

 

[Damian_G]

Would probably be charged $100-$300 (in US dollars) by an investigator, and ask for a receipt that mentions the exact services the investigator performed and the names of the databases he searched. First, try the free website myfloridacounty.com

Hey,

Thank you for the response. I've tried a few databases to look for her, unfortunately it seems that her old address is coming up.

Regarding the private investigators, I did contact 3 of them. One of them asked for 750USD and he sent me a form fill out. He's asking there for my credit card number number (together with the security one). Of course, I'm not giving away details like that...

The other person who replied to my e-mail wrote that they require 150USD deposit, and they charge 150 for an hour.

I'm willing to pay for this service up to 300 USD, but, 750? 1500? I think it might be a bit too much.

Do you by any chance have any private investigator recommendations ?

 

[adjusterjack]

The other person who replied to my e-mail wrote that they require 150USD deposit, and they charge 150 for an hour.

Ask that one to agree in writing for a flat fee of $300 for 2 hours computer search time with an itemized list of the searches and results, negative or positive. That should satisfy your due diligence requirement so you can get permission of the court to serve by publication if you can't find her.

 

[Dandy Don]

In my opinion you should only use an investigator who has access to the Lexis-Nexis database and other databases. For privacy reasons, we are not allowed to give recommendations (that would show specific names) on this message board.

If you think she is deliberately laying low or hiding out to keep a low profile, then please do not pay to have a search done, since it is extremely more difficult to find a person if that person is living at someone else's house.

If you know the names and addresses of her family members, consider if you would want to send them a letter asking them to let you know of her whereabouts if they have any information.

 

[Damian_G]

Ask that one to agree in writing for a flat fee of $300 for 2 hours computer search time with an itemized list of the searches and results, negative or positive. That should satisfy your due diligence requirement so you can get permission of the court to serve by publication if you can't find her.

Thank you for your suggestion

 

[Zigner]

Ask that one to agree in writing for a flat fee of $300 for 2 hours computer search time with an itemized list of the searches and results, negative or positive. That should satisfy your due diligence requirement so you can get permission of the court to serve by publication if you can't find her.

And Damian might even get the answer he's looking for

 

[Damian_G]

In my opinion you should only use an investigator who has access to the Lexis-Nexis database and other databases. For privacy reasons, we are not allowed to give recommendations (that would show specific names) on this message board.

If you think she is deliberately laying low or hiding out to keep a low profile, then please do not pay to have a search done, since it is extremely more difficult to find a person if that person is living at someone else's house.

If you know the names and addresses of her family members, consider if you would want to send them a letter asking them to let you know of her whereabouts if they have any information.

From what I know she's not laying low right now. I was able to track parts of her latest address online, unfortunately it's just missing an apartment number.

Unfortunately I don't have contact number to her family members or friends. This was not even a serious marriage, just a mistake I've made many years ago. Now I'm trying to fix that.

Thank you for mentioning Lexis-Nexis database, I will keep that in mind when searching for a potential investigator.

At this moment the court asked me to show a proof that I was trying to track her. I'm hoping the solution which "adjusterjack" is proposing will work. If I could get a report stating that a company tried to trace her but wasn't able to, this might be enough for the court.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

From what I know she's not laying low right now. I was able to track parts of her latest address online, unfortunately it's just missing an apartment number.

Depending on the size of the apartment complex a process server may be able to find her for just a little more money than they are normally paid. And any PI worth the name should certainly be able to.

 

[LdiJ]

Depending on the size of the apartment complex a process server may be able to find her for just a little more money than they are normally paid. And any PI worth the name should certainly be able to.

Its also possible that an apartment number is not necessary. Some apartment complexes (mostly townhouses) would have regular addresses. Other ones where there are apartment numbers would only have maybe 4-6 apartments per address, and the residence's names would be clearly marked on their mailboxes. The only time it might be difficult, is if its a high rise apartment building with just one address.