How to Prove Cohabitation using a Private Investigator

Are you trying to prove cohabitation? A private investigator can do this for you in a multitude of ways, and we’re going to be looking at how.

Are you hoping to reduce or eliminate spousal support or alimony entirely? If you are, one of the things that you might be looking at is proving cohabitation with another person. If you don’t know what you are doing, this can be extremely difficult to prove, but that is where the help of a private investigator comes in. There are a number of ways that these professionals can prove cohabitation in order to help you reduce or stop the payments, and we’re going to be looking at how in this article. Keep reading down below if you would like to find out more.

What Is Cohabitation?

Before we look at how it can be proven, you need to make sure that you understand exactly what cohabitation is. Cohabitation is two people living together in a sexual relationship without being married. This may vary slightly depending on what state you live in, but generally this is the definition. Cohabitation can affect whether or not you may alimony in some states if it can be proven that the recipient of the alimony is living in a spouse like relationship. 

The court will have the final say as to whether or not the alimony stops due to cohabitation. But, just because you know someone is cohabiting, doesn’t mean that you are finding it easy to prove. As such, we recommend hiring a private investigator to prove this for you, looking at three factors that the court will consider. These are that your ex-spouse and partner live at the same address, they are in a sexual relationship and share expenses with joint decision making. 

How To Prove It

Surveillance

Over a short period of time, sometimes longer, a private investigator can use surveillance to prove cohabitation. They will look for routines that we all take part in on a daily basis such as coming and going to the home. The use of keys for the front door and ready access to the garage door will be essential. Domestic duties with the new partner such as house maintenance and retrieving mail from the mailbox are useful pieces of evidence to have. All of this should be captured on video by the private investigator so that it can be used in court. 

Your private investigator will also look for public displays of affection as these can be a nice added bonus to prove the relationship is not platonic. If possible, finding that the new partner is storing items at the home could be helpful as well. 

Trash Pull 

A lot can be found through a trash pull which is why it is one of the common ways to prove cohabitation. You might think it is a little weird, but the more evidence that you can get, the better your chances are going to be when you get to court. Some of the things that the private investigator will be looking for include letters, prescription bottles, and banking paperwork. All of this would indicate a spouse-like relationship, and if anything else can be found to further back up this claim it will be found.

Before you get worried that this is illegal as it is the property of someone else, once the trash has been taken to the curb, it is no longer the property of the owner. Therefore, it will be allowed in court as long as it was collected properly. 

Social Media

You always see couples making profiles on social media as a joint venture, and if your ex-spouse has done this, it can be extremely helpful. This is a long documentation of their relationship, and will help prove to the court that they are in a committed relationship.

Even if they don’t have a joint social media account, the private investigator will take a look through both accounts and pull any posts that feature shared activities such as vacations or days out. If they are showing affection towards each other in any of the posts, these will also be documented. 

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the ways that you can prove cohabitation using a private investigator. If you are interested in finding out more about this or using these services, then we recommend you get in touch with Assurance Investigations & Process Service as soon as possible.