Child Custody Investigations in Miami Beach, FL
A doorman, a valet and a building full of neighbors stand between you and what happens on the other parent's days. We document it anyway, lawfully and on video.
A Judge Needs Facts, and Facts Are Hard to Get in a High-Rise
Miami-Dade family judges set parenting plans on the child's best interests under Chapter 61 of the Florida Statutes. The judge hears your version of the other household and your ex's version, and picks one. What you say about the Saturday nights is testimony. Time-stamped video of who walked out of the lobby at 7 a.m. with your ex is evidence.
Wasser Investigations has worked custody matters on the Beach since 1985. Travis Wasser handles every case personally, from the first call to the witness stand at the Children's Courthouse downtown. We document exchanges, overnight guests, drinking on Ocean Drive or in Sunset Harbour during parenting time, children left with building staff or a sitter nobody checked, and school pickups that did not happen. The report follows your timesharing calendar day by day.
Miami Beach custody work has its own problems. Condo towers South of Fifth and along Collins Avenue have doormen, cameras and valet stands that control who gets near the building. Island homes on the Venetian Islands, Star Island and Sunset Islands sit behind gates and causeways with one road in. And the crowds on Lincoln Road or Ocean Drive are both cover and chaos. Forty years on the Beach taught us where to stand in each of those.
Miami Beach Parents With Doubts, and Attorneys Who Need Evidence
For Parents: You Have Doubts About What Happens at the Other Home
Your child mentioned a party that ran late. You saw a photo online from a club on a night your ex was supposed to be home with the kids. The new partner has a past nobody has checked. Tell us what you know. We will explain what Florida law lets us document and what it does not, and we will tell you if the other parent is doing fine. A clean report is also an answer, and it can keep you out of a hearing you would lose.
For Attorneys: Footage That Holds Up in a Miami-Dade Courtroom
You get time-stamped video, photographs, a chain-of-custody record and an investigator who has testified in South Florida family courts since the 1980s. We plan each session around the timesharing calendar and the motion you are filing, whether that is a modification, contempt, a relocation objection or a request for supervised timesharing. Call Travis directly. Nobody between you and the person on the street.
Six Things That Change Parenting Plans
Overnight guests during timesharing
We log who enters the building or the gate with the other parent, when they arrive and when they leave, and we run a background check on them. A judge should know who is sleeping near your child.
Alcohol and drug use
Drinking at a South Beach bar or a hotel pool deck during parenting time, then driving the kids back over the causeway. Associates with drug histories. We record it from public property at a lawful distance.
Supervision
Children left alone in the unit, handed to a doorman or a nanny nobody vetted, or left with someone the court has already barred from contact.
Living conditions and residence
Whether the other parent lives at the address in the parenting plan or has quietly moved into a partner's condo in Mid-Beach. Who else lives there, who comes and goes, and whether the unit is being rented out on the nights the children are supposed to be in it.
Schedule compliance
Late pickups at North Beach Elementary or Nautilus Middle, skipped exchanges, school absences, and "working late" claims that do not match where the car was valeted.
Relocation and violation of orders
Moving boxes, a listing on the unit, a lease in another city, or contact with a prohibited person. We catch the early signs so your attorney can object before the move happens.
Custody Surveillance Among Doormen, Valets and Crowds
You cannot sit in a car outside a Collins Avenue tower for six hours. Building security notices, and so does the valet. So we work where the other parent has to go: the lobby exit, the garage ramp, the school line, the restaurant, the causeway on the way to the mainland. On the islands, there is one road in and out, and we are on it before the session starts, not after.
Crowds help and hurt. Ocean Drive on a Friday night hides an investigator and also hides the subject, so we plan positions and handoffs in advance rather than improvising. We never make contact with the children or the other parent, we never enter a building without authorization, and if a session becomes risky we end it and return another day. One burned surveillance can cost you the case.
Your Miami Beach Custody File
- Time-stamped video and photographs from every session
- A written report organized around the timesharing calendar
- Background reports on any adult seen with your children
- Documented chain of custody for every piece of evidence
- Investigator testimony at a Miami-Dade hearing or trial downtown
Questions Miami Beach Parents Ask Before Hiring Us
Is it legal to follow someone through Miami Beach?
Yes, on public streets, sidewalks, parking garages open to the public, and in businesses that admit the public. We do not enter private lobbies, trespass, record audio, or approach children. Private buildings are observed from outside them, which is why the route matters more than the front door.
Will my ex know I hired an investigator?
Only you and your attorney know. We rotate vehicles and positions, avoid the building's own camera lines, and never stand where a doorman would remember us. In a building where staff talk, that discipline is the job.
Do you follow my child to school?
We follow the parent. If the parent does the drop-off, we document it from a distance and stay with the parent afterward. We never approach, question or photograph children up close.
How quickly can you reach the Beach?
Our office is on Ponce de Leon Boulevard in Coral Gables, a short drive across the MacArthur or Julia Tuttle Causeway. Travel time is built into the schedule, so we are in position before the exchange, not arriving mid-session.
What should I expect to pay?
Surveillance is billed hourly against a written estimate you approve first. Most Beach cases take two to four sessions over a few weeks, and the first session usually tells us whether more time will help. The first call costs nothing.
Find Out What Happens When the Kids Are Not With You
Call Travis Wasser at (305) 278-8700. Tell him what you have seen, and he will tell you what can be documented, how long it should take, and what it will cost.
Request a Free Consultation