What was once considered a need for divorce court in New York State has turned into evidence for peace of mind in many relationships. When most people think of hiring a private investigator, one of the first kinds of cases that come to mind is a cheating spouse/ partner case. When Mission Possible Investigations first started back in 2007, the majority of these cases we handled were focused on gathering evidence of an affair for court proceedings. Since 2010, with a change in New York State’s divorce law to include no-fault divorce, the case work has continued but for very different reasons.

Yes, many still come to us seeking this kind of evidence for court and lawyers still use it for helping to recover assets, child custody issues and other court related needs. But the majority of these cases relate more to peace of mind and relationship decision making.

No longer do we just have married couples coming to us. Couples have gotten smarter uncovering cheating long before they take marriage vows. They need the evidence, not for court, but to know the truth to make good life decisions about whether to continue the relationship and even marry the person. All different people from all walks of life and relationship statuses have come to us to conduct investigations into cheating. It’s unfortunately a pretty common occurrence but it’s important to know the truth as evidence of cheating can have not only a devastating effect on someone’s physical and emotional health but for many their financial health hangs in the balance especially if the couple is living together.

We are often asked if we have more men or women coming to us. We really handle about 50 -50 of each. We handle cases where couples are dating, living together, domestic partnership and marriages. Our work really runs across many types of relationships and we are open to working with all types of clients who have the right to know if their partner is faithful or not.

When we are contacted, we evaluate each case and try to obtain as much pertinent information as we can at the start. Gathering as much information as possible in the beginning of a case can cut down on the time spent conducting an investigation and save the client unnecessary costs. After a thorough review of the case, we create an action plan and begin the investigation. As the investigation commences, we provide the client with as much relevant information as we are able to obtain.

To determine if a private investigator is really needed, we talk to the client about some of the warning signs of cheating. These warning signs and a person’s suspicions often pave the way for how we plan our investigations. We have found in most cases that if someone has enough suspicion to retain us, then during the course of the investigation we obtain evidence that cheating is actually occurring. Private investigators gather information through many different resources and techniques. The crux of the evidence is usually obtained through surveillance and requires video or photographic evidence over a period of time to prove that a partner is cheating.

Once an investigator has completed the investigation the client is provided a final report detailing all the pertinent information including times, dates and detail including any video and photographic evidence.

Mission Possible Investigations’ investigators cannot stress enough how important the critical up-front assessment and timing is in conducting these investigations. While the emotional scars of cheating may take a while to heal for our clients, they are at least left with the peace of mind of knowing the truth and the evidence to make long-term relationship and financial decisions.