Do you have an office in the Florida Keys?

No. Every Keys matter is handled from our office at 4000 Ponce de Leon Blvd, Suite 470, Coral Gables, FL 33146, and our investigators drive down for the fieldwork. Call (305) 686-7826 to talk it through.

How do you schedule travel from Miami-Dade to the Keys?

We plan Keys fieldwork as blocks of consecutive days rather than single short visits, because the trip itself takes real time. Before anyone leaves the mainland we confirm addresses, vehicles and the windows that matter, so the days on the islands are spent observing, interviewing or pulling records.

Does the Overseas Highway make surveillance in the Keys harder?

It changes the planning. The courthouses in Marathon and Tavernier both sit on the Overseas Highway, and it is the main road link between the islands, so a follow has fewer alternate routes and an investigator has to be more careful about being noticed. We plan positions and handoffs before the trip.

Can the investigation be handled in Spanish?

Yes. We are a bilingual agency. Census estimates show about one in six Monroe County residents aged five and older speaks Spanish at home, and consultations, interviews, updates and reports can all be done in Spanish or English.

Will your investigator testify in the 16th Circuit?

When our photos, video or notes are offered, the investigator who made them can appear to authenticate them under s. 90.901 and describe what he or she personally saw. We plan the travel for depositions and hearings in Key West, Marathon or Plantation Key as part of the case.

How can I verify your license?

Look up any Florida agency on the FDACS Division of Licensing agency search. Our agency license number is A1800135.

Private Investigator Florida Keys & Key West

Q: Which courthouse will hear my Monroe County case?

The 16th Judicial Circuit has three courthouses: the Freeman Justice Center in Key West, the Marathon Courthouse and the Plantation Key Courthouse in Tavernier. Your summons, notice or attorney will tell you which building and courtroom apply.

Florida Keys cases at a glance

County: Monroe, population 82,874 in the 2020 Census.
Court: the 16th Judicial Circuit, with courthouses in Key West, Marathon and Plantation Key (Tavernier). Appeals go to the Third District Court of Appeal.
Records: the Monroe County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, with offices in the same three places.
Where we work from: our office in Coral Gables. We have no Keys office; investigators travel to the islands for each case.
Languages: English and Spanish, from first call to final report.
Credentials: Florida agency license A1800135, veteran-led, 4.9★ from 88 Google reviews.

Miami Private Investigations is a licensed Florida agency (FDACS A1800135) based at Suite 470, 4000 Ponce de Leon Blvd in Coral Gables. Monroe County is a service area for us, not a branch: investigators head south when a case needs eyes on the ground, and the records work, planning and reporting happen on the mainland.

Why is a Keys investigation different from one on the mainland?

Start with who is actually there. The Census Bureau's American Community Survey (five-year estimates, 2019–2023) counts 54,418 housing units in Monroe County. Of those, 13,378, about 24.6%, are vacant because they are held "for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use," against about 8.2% statewide (ACS table B25004, B25002). Among the 34,630 occupied homes, roughly 63.4% are lived in by their owners (ACS B25003).

So a client with a problem in Islamorada may live in Chicago or Caracas, and the person who knows what happened may be a caretaker who has moved on. Visitors add another layer: the county's Tourist Development Council publishes an annual report on the visitor economy. The matters we are most often asked about from the islands involve maritime and boating incidents, hospitality businesses and short-term rentals.

Of about 78,288 county residents aged five or older, some 12,574, or roughly 16%, speak Spanish at home (ACS C16001). Those witnesses are interviewed in Spanish.

Which Keys communities do we work in?

We take cases anywhere in the county. The four places clients name most, with their 2020 Census counts:

Key West

The county's largest city, with 26,444 residents in 2020. It is home to the circuit's main courthouse, the Freeman Justice Center at 302 Fleming Street, and a clerk's office at 500 Whitehead Street. Stock Island (4,722) and Big Coppitt Key (2,869) are unincorporated places nearby.

Marathon

An incorporated city of 9,689 in the Middle Keys. The Marathon Courthouse at 3117 Overseas Highway shares its address with a clerk's office. Key Colony Beach (790) is a separate city nearby.

Islamorada

Officially the Village of Islamorada, Village of Islands, an incorporated village of 7,107. When a matter here centers on a property, a boat or a business, we confirm ownership and corporate records before anyone drives down.

Key Largo

An unincorporated census-designated place of 12,447 in the Upper Keys. North Key Largo (1,431) and Tavernier (2,530) are counted on their own. Tavernier is where the Plantation Key Courthouse sits, at 88770 Overseas Highway, Suite 1.

What do Keys clients usually hire an investigator for?

Owners who are not on the island. A second-home owner suspects a contractor or caretaker is taking advantage of the absence. We start with the Clerk's official records and Florida corporate filings on Sunbiz, then document what can be seen from public places. Money owed after a judgment leads to asset checks.
Injury, rental and workplace claims. A guest claims a fall at a rental, or a comp claim does not match what co-workers describe. Our claim investigations log observed activity with times and places. Keys workers' comp disputes are not heard in the Keys at all: the state's Office of the Judges of Compensation Claims runs one Miami district office, at 401 NW Second Avenue, Suite N918, for Dade and Monroe (OJCC district offices).
Family cases split by the causeway. One parent lives in Marathon, the other in Kendall. Florida starts from a rebuttable presumption of equal time-sharing and weighs best-interest factors (s. 61.13), so our custody investigations are scoped to those factors, and infidelity work is scoped to what a court may weigh on alimony (s. 61.08).
Witnesses who left with the season. Seasonal staff and visitors scatter. Skip tracing and background investigations find them and confirm who they are before a deposition is set.
Trial preparation for counsel. Attorneys use our litigation support for locating witnesses, taking statements and preparing field evidence for the 16th Circuit.

Which court and clerk handle a case in the Keys?

All of Monroe County is one circuit, the 16th Judicial Circuit, and its appeals go to the Third District Court of Appeal, the same appellate court that hears Miami-Dade cases. The circuit's courthouse list has three buildings: the Freeman Justice Center in Key West, the Marathon Courthouse, and the Plantation Key Courthouse in Tavernier. Your notice or attorney decides which one, not the map.

Files come from the Monroe County Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, which keeps offices in Key West, Marathon and Plantation Key and runs an online case search covering civil, criminal, family and probate records, along with an official-records index for deeds, liens and mortgages. We read them before the trip, because a lis pendens or a prior injury suit can change what the fieldwork needs to prove.

How do distance and the Overseas Highway shape the work?

Two of the circuit's three courthouse addresses are on the Overseas Highway, and that tells you a lot about the county: the Overseas Highway is the thread that links the islands. For an investigator that has three consequences.

Preparation happens on the mainland. Addresses, vehicles, vessel or business registrations and court files are confirmed from Coral Gables first, so nobody drives down to discover the subject moved.
Fieldwork runs in blocks. Keys surveillance and interviews are grouped into consecutive days that you approve in advance.
Following is harder, not easier. A single road means fewer ways to stay out of sight. An alert subject may call for a second investigator. Our surveillance page explains how that is planned.

Many cases touch both counties. For work that starts in south Miami-Dade, see our Homestead page, the mainland end of the road.

What can a Florida PI do in the Keys, and what is off-limits?

A Chapter 493 license covers inquiry into a person's "habits, conduct, movements, whereabouts" and the gathering of evidence for trial (s. 493.6101), and it is issued by the state, so it travels with the investigator into Monroe County. It carries no police power. On the islands, specifically:

Docks, marinas and gated homes stay off-limits without permission. Entering a structure or conveyance without authorization, or staying on posted or fenced property, is trespass (s. 810.08, s. 810.09). We observe from public roads, public waterfront and businesses open to the public.
No secret audio. Florida requires every party's consent before a private conversation is intercepted (s. 934.03), and illegally captured recordings cannot be used as evidence (s. 934.06). Our video is silent.
No trackers on cars or boats. Placing a tracking device on someone else's property without consent is prohibited, and investigators get no blanket exemption (s. 934.425).
No lying for records, no badges. Obtaining a customer's financial information by false pretenses is barred by federal law (15 U.S.C. § 6821), and posing as law enforcement is grounds for license discipline (s. 493.6118(1)(i)).

The full walk-through is in our Florida Statute 493 guide.

What will I receive, and will it stand up in court?

Each Keys file closes with a written narrative in time order, the original unedited photos and video, and copies of the records we relied on. Evidence is admitted only once it is shown to be what it claims to be (s. 90.901), and it must bear on a material fact (s. 90.401). So the report names the investigator who made each observation, and that person can travel to Key West, Marathon or Plantation Key to testify about what he or she personally saw (s. 90.701). Lawyers describe working with us on the testimonials page.

What decides how long a Keys case takes and what it costs?

We scope each case on its facts and do not publish rates. The factors that move the budget most for Monroe County work:

How far down the chain. A Key Largo interview and a Key West surveillance are very different trips.
Days on the islands. Whether one block of consecutive days is enough, or the pattern you need to show only appears across several visits.
Staffing and vehicles. One investigator for a fixed position, or two for a subject who moves between islands.
Overnight stays and timing. Multi-day trips, evenings and weekends add scope.
Testimony. Return travel for a deposition or hearing in the 16th Circuit.

Our statewide Florida PI cost guide explains how these factors combine, and you approve the scope before any fieldwork.

Verify before you hire. A Florida agency has to show its license number in its advertising (s. 493.6111). Type any number into the FDACS agency lookup to confirm it. Ours is A1800135.