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Skip tracing locates people. A private investigation gathers evidence and facts. Both are licensed disciplines with distinct legal frameworks and use cases in civil litigation.
Attorneys, collectors, and litigants often conflate skip tracing with private investigation, and many investigators offer both services. But the two disciplines have distinct scopes, licensing frameworks, and cost structures. Choosing the right one for the task is how you avoid over-paying for a PI hour when a $75 skip trace would resolve the question — or conversely, how you avoid relying on a bare skip trace when the matter needs actual investigative work.
Skip tracing is focused on answering one question: where is this person right now? The techniques are database-heavy, the outputs are addresses and phone numbers, and the deliverable is typically a short report or sworn declaration identifying the most probable current whereabouts along with the sources consulted.
A legal-grade skip trace will access licensed data sources (credit-header, utility, employment), corroborate across open records, and — where the case warrants it — field-verify the leading candidate address with a mail drop, neighbor canvass, or drive-by.
A private investigation is broader. It may include surveillance (photographic or video documentation of the subject’s activities), interviews of witnesses, document research, background checks, asset investigations, and expert testimony. The deliverable is an evidence package: timestamped video, sworn witness statements, business-records subpoenas, forensic accountant reports.
PI work is often what you retain when skip tracing has already located the subject and the case now needs to know what the subject is doing — whether a personal-injury plaintiff is actually disabled, whether a spouse is committing marital misconduct, whether a business partner is diverting assets.
PI licensing is state-specific and typically requires an application, exam, bond, and sometimes an apprenticeship period. Florida, California, and Texas have particularly detailed PI statutes. Skip tracers working in a pure database-research capacity may not require a PI license depending on the state — many operate under an attorney’s privilege or a collector’s license (especially in debt-collection contexts). But skip tracers who conduct field surveillance or interviews are effectively doing PI work and need the corresponding license.
A basic skip trace runs $30 to $75. A comprehensive skip trace with sworn affidavit for court use runs $150 to $500. PI work is hourly — typically $75 to $200 per hour depending on market — with minimums and surveillance costs that can run to thousands for a serious engagement. Attorneys should match the budget to the question being asked.
Use skip tracing when: you need a current address, phone, or employer; you’re preparing for service of process; you need an affidavit for an alternative-service motion; you’re pursuing a consumer debt and need contact information. Use a private investigator when: you need surveillance or behavioral evidence; you’re documenting misconduct for a tort or divorce matter; you need formal witness interviews with sworn statements; you need asset or due-diligence investigations.
Many cases use both. A typical plaintiff’s-side personal-injury engagement might start with a skip trace to locate the defendant driver, hand off to a PI for surveillance of an alleged injury, and return to the skip tracer to locate the PI’s subjects for sworn statements. Experienced agencies offer both and seamlessly hand off between teams.
Confirm three things before retaining either: (1) the firm is licensed for the work in the jurisdiction where the work will occur; (2) the firm can deliver a court-ready product (sworn affidavit, chain of custody on any video, witness statements on correct form); (3) pricing is clear and proportionate to the question — beware of firms that try to upsell a PI engagement when a skip trace would suffice, and beware of firms that undercharge by cutting corners on documentation.
You can usually hire a pure database-research skip tracer without running afoul of PI licensing, particularly if the work is under attorney direction. Any field work (surveillance, interviews, confrontation) moves the engagement into PI territory.
Skip tracing. A basic skip trace returns results in hours. A PI surveillance engagement takes days to weeks.
Yes, most PI firms include skip tracing in their services. The reverse is less true — many skip tracers do not offer full PI services.
Database access overlaps (LexisNexis, TLO, IRB, CLEAR). PIs additionally use surveillance equipment, interview techniques, and specialty investigative databases not typically part of a skip trace.
Skip tracing. The goal of service-of-process intake is locating a current address, which is exactly what skip tracing delivers. PI services are not usually needed unless the defendant is actively evading and surveillance becomes necessary.
Served 123 LLC partners with licensed investigators for cases that need PI work, and delivers court-ready skip traces in-house. We match the service to the question so you’re never paying hourly for a database query.
