This week I teach you three times you can use surveillance to make more money working a child custody case.

This is important because when you know about these opportunities to help a client (especially a law firm client) you can make more money helping solve a problem while being of service to others.

Working for Attorneys

I always recommend you work for the attorney on child custody cases because many times a parent will hire you to get the “proof” they think is important for their case, but the reality is the attorney knows exactly what evidence they need to present to the court for a favorable ruling. Work directly for the attorney if at all possible. (If you learn nothing else from me this week, that’s worth the price of admission right there!)

Note: In this article the father is presumed to be the non-custodial parent paying child support (just for ease of examples), but obliviously this works with moms too.

Terms and Conditions

All three of these examples fall under the broad umbrella of what is commonly referred to as “Terms and Conditions”.

1. Weekends

In this case a non-custodial parent request more time with the child solely to reduce the child support payment the parent has to make.

The non-custodial parent request, for example, to have the child every other weekend then claims since he’s feeding the child and paying other expense 4 days a month he should pay less child support.

In this situation, the parent picks-up the child, say on Friday after school, and immediately drops the child off at grandma’s house and never sees the child at all during “his” weekend.

The mom doesn’t think this is right so she contacts her attorney. The attorney may agree with her and hire you to do surveillance to see who is actually caring for the child on the father’s weekends.

2. Stay Away Orders

The terms of the child custody agreement may indicate that a cretin person or people cannot be around the child.

If this condition of child custody is being violated it can be harmful for the child and you may be hired to gather evidence that the person is actually around the child.

I worked one particularly disturbing case where the custodial mother was regularly bringing her two your daughters around a convicted, register sex offender with a history of abusing young girls.

I did surveillance, got the video, testified in court and the judge immediately took action to protect the children.

3. Child Support Modification

You can get hired by either side on this type of case.

This happens with one parent is under reporting his or her income.

The non-custodial parent may be under-reporting his income so he can pay less child support or the custodial parent may be under-reporting her income to get a larger check form the other parent.

You can be hired to do surveillance and show he’s working a job he hasn’t reported to the court and he should be paying more child support than he is.

Or that she’s actually making money “on the side” perhaps selling online or by babysitting (or more properly running a daycare type “business” while she stays at home) and she shouldn’t be getting as much from the father as she is getting.

4. Cohabitation

This happens much more commonly with spousal support agreements, but may happen in child custody cases as well depending on the terms and conditions.

The one parent begins to live with or actually marries someone else triggering a lower “alimony” payment for their ex.

Surveillance may be used to collect evidence the lawyer takes to court to discontinue or reduce the payments the ex is paying. Don’t miss this opportunity to pick up more work!

Do you have anything you want to add to the list? Leave a comment!

If you like this helpful list, then don’t miss out on my free special report If You Want To be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. If not, you can get it right here…

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

P.S. – Did you notice the business/marketing tip this week? At the beginning I promised to teach you 3 times you can use surveillance to make more money on child custody cases, but I actually taught you 4 times. I under-promised and over-delivered. The lesson for you? When it come to taking care of your clients: Go the extra mile!