A private investigator can legally obtain a wide range of information about a person: court records, property ownership, business filings, address and phone history, vehicle registration data, publicly posted social media, photographs and video taken in public, voluntary statements from people willing to talk, and anything a subject discards as trash at the curb. What a private investigator cannot obtain, without the subject’s written consent or a court order, is anything protected by federal privacy law — bank records, credit reports, medical files, the contents of private phone calls, texts, or emails, and sealed or expunged court records. The line between the two categories is the practical answer to most questions people have about PIs.
What a PI Can Legally Access
The foundation of almost every investigation is public records. Civil and criminal court filings, property deeds, tax assessments, business registrations, professional licenses, and corporate officer records are all open to anyone who knows where to look. What a professional brings to the search is paid access to commercial databases that pull records from hundreds of jurisdictions into a single profile: current and former addresses, phone numbers, known associates, and dates of birth. Cross-referencing those data points often turns up connections that no single public search would reveal.
Vehicle records sit in a special category. The federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act restricts who can pull personal information from state DMV databases, but it carves out an explicit exception for licensed investigators acting for a purpose the law otherwise permits, such as investigation in anticipation of litigation or locating a person.
Skip Tracing
Finding people is one of the most common reasons to hire a PI. Attorneys use skip tracers to locate witnesses, creditors use them to track debtors, and families use them to reconnect with missing relatives. The investigator combines public records, commercial databases, social media, and personal contacts to narrow down where someone is now. It’s legal as long as the investigator stays within publicly available sources and authorized databases.
Public Surveillance and Trash
If you can be seen from a public sidewalk, restaurant, or parking lot, an investigator can watch, follow, photograph, and record you. Public spaces carry no legal expectation of privacy, which is why insurance companies rely so heavily on surveillance footage in disability and workers’ compensation cases. The boundary is the inside of a home or other private space. An investigator can’t use a telephoto lens through your windows, aim a camera into your house, or enter private property without permission. Persistent following that causes fear can also cross into harassment or stalking, which is never legal regardless of who’s doing it.
Trash set out at the curb for collection is fair game. The U.S. Supreme Court held in California v. Greenwood that garbage placed outside the home for pickup carries no reasonable expectation of privacy. Investigators sometimes use “trash pulls” to find discarded financial statements or correspondence. The placement matters: the bin has to be in a publicly accessible area, not inside a garage or a fenced yard.
Social Media and Open-Source Research
Publicly posted social media is an open book. Public photos, status updates, check-ins, friend lists, and comments are all legally collectible, and this material produces some of the most useful evidence in personal injury and divorce cases. A claimant who says they can’t lift ten pounds but posts video of themselves moving furniture has handed opposing counsel the case.
The hard limit is the privacy setting. Investigators cannot hack accounts, guess passwords, create fake profiles to friend locked-down accounts, or bypass any security measure. Information a subject has restricted to friends requires their consent or a court order.
Voluntary Interviews
Neighbors, coworkers, business associates, and witnesses often know things no database records. A PI can approach any of them and ask questions, but every interview has to be voluntary. Investigators have no subpoena power. If a person declines to talk, the conversation is over. Investigators also cannot misrepresent themselves in ways that cross legal lines: impersonating a police officer, government official, or attorney is a federal crime, and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act makes it illegal to use any false pretense to obtain someone’s financial records from a bank.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 6821 – Privacy Protection for Customer Information of Financial Institutions
Surveillance Technology and Its Rules
Three tools investigators use regularly sit in rapidly shifting legal territory. Each one has its own rules, and some vary sharply by state.
Drones
Investigators flying drones commercially must hold an FAA Remote Pilot Certificate under Part 107, which caps altitude at 400 feet and requires visual line of sight. Violations draw fines up to $75,000 and risk certificate suspension.2Federal Aviation Administration. FAA Steps Up Drone Enforcement in 2025 Many states separately restrict drone surveillance over private property, and the same reasonable-expectation-of-privacy rule that governs ground-level surveillance applies in the air. Flying a drone over a backyard to film through a skylight is not legal.
GPS Trackers
GPS tracking law depends entirely on the state. Texas and Virginia specifically allow licensed investigators to place trackers on vehicles. Delaware, Michigan, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and others flatly prohibit installing a tracker on a vehicle the investigator doesn’t own without consent.3National Conference of State Legislatures. Private Use of Location Tracking Devices: State Statutes Before authorizing a tracker, confirm the law where it will be placed. An illegal install can expose both the investigator and the person who hired them.
Audio Recording
Federal law allows recording a conversation as long as at least one party consents, so an investigator who is part of the conversation can record it without telling the other person.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2511 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Oral, or Electronic Communications Roughly a dozen states require all parties to consent. In those states, a secret recording is a crime even if the investigator is one of the people talking. A recording lawful in one state can be a felony across the state line, so any plan to record should be cleared with an attorney who knows the applicable rules.
What a PI Cannot Legally Access
Several categories of personal information are locked down by federal statute. No investigative skill or workaround makes them legally available without authorization.
Bank and Financial Records
Bank balances, transaction histories, and other customer information held by financial institutions are protected by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which prohibits obtaining them through false statements, fraudulent documents, or any other deception aimed at bank employees or customers.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 6821 – Privacy Protection for Customer Information of Financial Institutions An investigator who calls a bank pretending to be the account holder has committed a federal offense.
Credit Reports
The Fair Credit Reporting Act limits who can pull a consumer credit report to permissible purposes like credit applications, employment screening with written consent, insurance underwriting, and court orders. Licensed investigators are not on that list.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S. Code 1681b – Permissible Purposes of Consumer Reports A PI can only pull a report with the subject’s written consent or a court order.
Medical Records
HIPAA’s Privacy Rule requires written patient authorization before a healthcare provider discloses protected health information for anything outside treatment, payment, or healthcare operations.6U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Summary of the HIPAA Privacy Rule A PI calling a hospital or doctor’s office for records will get nothing. Only a signed authorization or valid court order unlocks them.
Private Communications
The federal Wiretap Act makes it a crime to intentionally intercept any phone call, email, or electronic message without the consent of at least one party.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2511 – Interception and Disclosure of Wire, Oral, or Electronic Communications The Electronic Communications Privacy Act extends the same protection to stored electronic communications.7Bureau of Justice Assistance. Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA) Tapping a phone, planting a listening device, and intercepting text messages are all federal offenses. The only lawful alternative is monitoring publicly visible activity.
Sealed and Expunged Records
Juvenile files, sealed criminal records, and adoption records are off-limits by court order. A judge decided those records should not be publicly accessible, and attempting to retrieve them without court authorization is illegal regardless of method.
How PI-Gathered Evidence Holds Up in Court
A common misconception is that illegally obtained evidence is automatically thrown out. That rule, the exclusionary rule, applies to government agents. It does not apply to private citizens. The U.S. Supreme Court established that distinction in Burdeau v. McDowell, holding that the Fourth Amendment restrains government conduct, not private action.8Office of Justice Programs. Admissibility of Evidence Located in Searches by Private Persons A court could admit evidence a PI obtained through questionable methods even while the investigator faces criminal charges for how it was obtained.
That doesn’t make illegal collection a sensible plan. The investigator risks prosecution, the client risks being charged as an accomplice, opposing counsel will attack the evidence and the investigator’s credibility, and a judge may still exclude the evidence under other rules. Evidence that carries weight in court is relevant to the dispute, lawfully gathered, and preserved with a clean chain of custody. Photographs and video should be timestamped. Written reports should describe exactly what was observed, where, and when. Recordings should comply with the applicable consent law. Evidence that has been edited or stored carelessly will face challenges whatever its origin.
What Hiring a PI Typically Costs
Most investigators bill hourly, with rates running roughly $85 to $225, higher in major metropolitan areas and for specialized work. Many firms require an upfront retainer, commonly $1,500 to $5,000, that covers an agreed block of hours; after that the client either replenishes the retainer or pays by the hour. Simpler jobs like background checks or basic skip traces are often quoted as flat fees from a few hundred to several thousand dollars depending on complexity.
Ask what the base rate doesn’t cover. Travel, lodging for out-of-town surveillance, specialized technology fees for drone or database work, and court testimony fees are routinely billed separately. Testimony can run $150 to $500 per court appearance. Before signing anything, get a written scope that spells out what the quoted rate includes and what gets billed on top.