How to Conduct a Diligent Search in Florida

Suggestions for Finding the Opposing Party in a Family Law Case

Below is a list of sources to contact to help locate the missing party. Keep a list of sources as you contact them, noting the date and the information obtained.

• Local telephone book from the city where the person last resided.
• Local 411 information in the city where the person last resided.
• Local city and county police departments for any possible arrests in the area where the person last resided.
• The Florida Department of Corrections, Inmate Records department: online "offender search" or call (850) 488-1503.
• The Hillsborough County Correctional Institution, Inmate Records Department, at (813) 247-8400.
• Contact the U.S. Postmaster and provide the following information: City, State, and Zip Code of the person’s last known address. Include a check for $1.00 and a written request for any subsequent addresses on record for that person.
• County Tax Collector’s office for the county where the person last resided.
• Florida Department of Motor Vehicles, for Driver License and Motor Vehicle/Vessel/Motor Home records (a fee is charged for the search).
  • Driving Record History
  • Driver License Records Request
  • Motor Vehicle/Vessel/Motor Home Records Request
  • Mail requests to: Division of Motorist Services, 2900 Apalachee Parkway, Room #B231, Mail Stop 57, Neil Kirkman Building, Tallahassee, Florida 32399
• Auto Tag office in the county where the person last resided for any automobile registrations.
• Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office – check arrest records and warrants on the HCSO website.
• Department of Revenue, Child Support Enforcement (if trying to locate a party for “establishing parentage, or establishing, modifying, or enforcing a support obligation” or for “making or enforcing a child custody or visitation determination”). Must have the party’s social security number.
  • Ask for Form CS-AP80 “Request for Authorization to Use the State and Federal Parent Locator Service” at your local Child Support Enforcement office
  • Department of Revenue, Child Support Program website
  • Hillsborough County: 6302 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., # 110, Tampa, FL 33619-1166
  • All counties except Miami-Dade: (800) 622-5437 / 7:30 a.m.-6:00 p.m., Monday-Friday
• Data Axel USA has a reverse directory to locate an address with only a phone number.
• Infobel has the same reverse directory service but can be used with international numbers.
• Other people finder search websites:
  • Intelius
  • Whitepages
  • Zabasearch

What You Will be Expected to Answer, Under Oath, About the Search You Have Done

I, being sworn, certify that the following information is true:

I have made diligent search and inquiry to discover the name and current residence of Respondent: {Specify details of search}

Refer to the checklist below and identify all actions taken (any additional information included such as the date the action was taken and the person with whom you spoke is helpful) (attach additional sheet if necessary):

• United States Post Office inquiry through Freedom of Information Act for current address or any relocations.
• Last known employment of Respondent, including name and address of employer. You should also ask for any addresses to which W-2 Forms were mailed, and, if a pension or profit-sharing plan exists, then for any addresses to which any pension or plan payment is and/or has been mailed.
• Unions from which Respondent may have worked or that governed his or her particular trade or craft.
• Regulatory agencies, including professional or occupational licensing.
• Names and addresses of relatives and contacts with those relatives, and inquiry as to Respondent’s last known address. You are to follow up any leads of any addresses where Respondent may have moved. Relatives include, but are not limited to: parents, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents, great-grandparents, former in-laws, stepparents, stepchildren.
• Information about the Respondent’s possible death and, if dead, the date and location of the death.
• Telephone listings in the last known locations of Respondent’s residence.
• Internet at Whitepages.com or other Internet databank locator service. Please indicate if a public library assisted you in your search.
• Law enforcement arrest and/or criminal records in the last known residential area of Respondent.
• Highway Patrol records in the state of Respondent’s last known address.
• Department of Motor Vehicle records in the state of Respondent’s last known address.
• Department of Corrections records in the state of Respondent’s last known address.
• Title IV-D (child support enforcement) agency records in the state of Respondent’s last known address.
• Hospitals in the last known area of Respondent’s residence.
• Utility companies, which include water, sewer, cable TV, and electric, in the last known area of Respondent’s residence.
• Letters to the Armed Forces of the U.S. and their response as to whether or not there is any information about Respondent. (See Memorandum for Certificate of Military Service, Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.912(a).)
• Tax Assessor’s and Tax Collector’s Office in the area where Respondent last resided.
• Other: {explain}