Family & matrimonial · Nationwide
Where a maintenance obligation depends on whether your former spouse is living with a new partner, the question is evidential rather than moral — and a single sighting proves nothing. What decides it is a documented pattern.
It's --:-- in Spain — an investigator is available now.
Short answer Spanish law recognises that a spousal maintenance obligation can end where the recipient begins living with a new partner as a couple. Establishing that is a question of fact, and facts have to be proven — which is why this is one of the most frequently instructed investigations in Spain.
This is separate from infidelity, and separate from divorce itself. Spain has no-fault divorce, so conduct during the marriage rarely determines the outcome. What can determine an ongoing financial obligation is what the recipient does afterwards.
The evidential bar is not "they have a boyfriend". Courts look for something closer to a stable, marital-type relationship — living together in a settled way rather than a relationship conducted across two addresses. That distinction is precisely what an investigation has to be structured to answer, and why a fortnight of observation tells you far more than a single afternoon.
Take advice from a Spanish family lawyer on your own circumstances. What applies in your case depends on your settlement, your jurisdiction and the facts.
What no lawful investigation includes: reading messages or call records, accessing accounts, placing devices, or recording inside private premises. These are criminal offences in Spain and material obtained that way shifts the case onto your conduct. What an investigator can legally do
Short answer Longer than clients expect, and that is the point. Establishing cohabitation means establishing a pattern, so the work is spread across a period rather than concentrated into one day. Anyone offering to prove it in an afternoon is offering you something a court will dismiss.
We scope the number of days and the period at the quoting stage, based on what you need to prove and what your lawyer says the standard is. Cases start from €1,200 plus VAT and are quoted per case rather than by the hour, so the figure you agree is the figure you pay. How pricing works
Where the initial observation suggests the case is weaker than you hoped, we tell you before spending more rather than continuing to bill.
01
You describe the settlement, the obligation and what your lawyer needs proven. No cost, no obligation.
02
An existing maintenance obligation is a clear legitimate interest. We confirm it and quote in writing before anything begins.
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Structured to establish pattern rather than incident, carried out lawfully in public space and without being noticed.
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In English, signed by the licensed detective, with findings stated separately from inference and prepared for your lawyer to file.
Before you instruct
My divorce was in the UK but my ex lives in Spain. Does that work?
It is one of the most common versions of this instruction. The evidence is gathered and signed in Spain, where the person is; whether and how it is used in a foreign court is a question for your own solicitor.
They keep separate addresses on paper. Does that end it?
No, and that arrangement is common precisely because people know the rule. What matters is where someone actually lives, which is an observable fact rather than a registered one.
Will they know they're being observed?
They should not. A subject who becomes aware changes their behaviour, which ends the investigation as well as breaching confidentiality — discretion here is operational, not a courtesy.
Is this the same as an infidelity investigation?
The fieldwork overlaps but the target is different. Infidelity asks what someone is doing; cohabitation asks where they are living and how settled it is. That changes how long the work runs and what the report has to establish. Infidelity investigations
What if there's a protection order?
We decline. Where a court has ordered that a person be left alone there is no legitimate interest, and we say so rather than take the instruction.
Confidential · No obligation · No cost
Leave a number and we'll call you back within 24 hours from a discreet number. Describe the situation and we'll tell you what can realistically be established.