Is it legal to run a background check on my fiancé in Florida?

Yes, using lawful sources: public court, property, corporate and licence records and other public information. It is not lawful to pull their credit report without a permissible purpose, access their accounts or devices, or record their conversations without consent.

Can a private investigator get my fiancé’s credit report?

No. Under 15 U.S.C. § 1681b, a consumer report may be furnished only for listed purposes, and checking a future spouse is not one of them. With your partner’s written instructions a report can be furnished, and each of you can request your own file under 15 U.S.C. § 1681j and share it.

How do I find out if my fiancé was married before?

Search marriage and divorce records in each county and state where they lived. Florida marriage licences are issued by the county court judge or clerk of the circuit court, and divorce cases have public dockets. Confirm that each prior marriage ended in a final judgment.

What happens if a prior marriage was never dissolved?

Marrying while having a living spouse is bigamy, a third-degree felony under s. 826.01, F.S., with narrow exceptions. The new marriage may be void, and under s. 61.079(8) a premarital agreement for a void marriage is enforceable only to avoid an inequitable result. Speak to a family law attorney.

Does Florida require financial disclosure for a prenup?

Not in every case, but it matters. Under s. 61.079(7)(a), F.S., an agreement that was unconscionable when signed can be set aside if the challenging party had no fair and reasonable disclosure of the other’s property or obligations, did not waive it in writing, and had no adequate knowledge of them.

Will my fiancé know I ordered a background check?

Public-records research does not involve contacting your partner, their family or their employer. Many couples later choose to share the results openly, which is often the healthiest approach.

Background Check on a Fiancé Before Marriage in Broward

Yes, you can lawfully check the background of the person you plan to marry, and in Broward County most of what matters is in public records: identity, prior marriages and divorces, bankruptcies, civil judgments and liens, criminal cases and business filings. What you cannot do is pull their credit report on your own, read their email or get into their phone. A licensed private investigator works from the lawful sources, verifies that the records really belong to your partner and not someone with the same name, and gives you a written report you can discuss with them and with the attorney drafting a prenuptial agreement. This guide is general information for couples in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, Coral Springs and the rest of Broward. It is not legal advice.

Why check a fiancé’s background before the wedding?

Most couples never need to. The reason people ask is usually a small inconsistency that will not go away: dates that do not add up, a previous spouse who is described differently each time, a business that is “doing great” but never seems to have an office, or a reluctance to talk about money that goes beyond ordinary privacy. Sometimes the request comes from a parent or adult child worried about an older relative remarrying quickly. Sometimes it comes from the couple’s own lawyer, who needs accurate financial information before a premarital agreement is signed.

Marriage has legal consequences that a dating relationship does not. A spouse can be affected by the other’s debts, tax problems and lawsuits, and the property rights you agree to in a prenup only hold up if they are built on honest disclosure. Checking the record first is a way to make sure you both start from the same facts.

Talk first, investigate second. Many questions are answered by asking directly and looking at documents together. An investigation is most useful when the answers you get do not match what you have seen, or when the financial stakes make independent verification sensible.

What can a pre-marriage background check lawfully cover?

Identity

Confirming that your partner is who they say they are: full legal name and any prior names, date of birth, and address history. Address history is the backbone of every other search, because court and property records are kept by county. A person who has lived in Broward, Palm Beach and another state needs records checked in each place.

Prior marriages and divorces

Florida marriage licences are issued by a county court judge or clerk of the circuit court (s. 741.01, F.S.), and divorces are court cases with public dockets. In Broward, family cases are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit, which is composed of Broward County alone (s. 26.021, F.S.). An investigator looks for marriage records and dissolution cases in every county and state where your partner has lived, and checks whether each earlier marriage actually ended in a final judgment.

That last point matters. In Florida, marrying someone while you have a living spouse is bigamy, a third-degree felony, apart from narrow exceptions (s. 826.01, F.S.). A marriage entered while a prior one was never dissolved may be void, and if a marriage is determined to be void, a premarital agreement is enforceable only to the extent needed to avoid an inequitable result (s. 61.079(8)). A person who says they were “never legally married” before may be right or wrong; Florida does not recognise common-law marriages entered after January 1, 1968 (s. 741.211), but a ceremony elsewhere can still count. The divorce file also shows obligations that survive: alimony, child support and property still being divided.

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcy cases are filed in federal court. Broward is in the Southern District of Florida, which sits in Fort Lauderdale among other cities (28 U.S.C. § 89(c)), but a person may have filed wherever they lived at the time. A prior bankruptcy is not a reason to cancel a wedding. It is a fact your future spouse should be willing to explain.

Civil judgments, liens and lawsuits

County civil dockets show lawsuits for unpaid debts, evictions, collection judgments and contract disputes. Official records show recorded judgment liens, tax liens and mortgages. A pattern of unpaid judgments, or a series of landlords who sued for rent, tells you more about money habits than any conversation.

Criminal record

Criminal court records and arrest information, checked in each county of residence and, where relevant, federal court. Our guide to checking someone’s criminal record in Florida explains how those records work and why a name-only search is not enough.

Business and professional claims

If your partner says they own a company, the corporate filings should show it: who the officers and registered agent are, whether the entity is active, and when it was formed. If they say they hold a professional licence, the licensing agency should confirm it. Property records show whether real estate they describe owning is in their name. Where a partner’s wealth is part of the conversation, lawful asset searches show what is on the public record, which is often less, and sometimes more, than what has been said.

Can I check my fiancé’s credit report?

Not on your own, and neither can an investigator. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, a consumer reporting agency may furnish a consumer report only for the purposes the statute lists “and no other” (15 U.S.C. § 1681b(a)). The list covers things like court orders, credit transactions, employment, insurance underwriting and transactions the consumer initiated. Wanting to know about the person you are marrying is not on it. Knowingly and willfully obtaining information on a consumer from a consumer reporting agency under false pretenses is a federal crime punishable by up to two years in prison (15 U.S.C. § 1681q).

The lawful route is consent. A report can be furnished in accordance with the written instructions of the consumer it relates to (15 U.S.C. § 1681b(a)(2)), and every consumer can request their own file from each nationwide consumer reporting agency once in any 12-month period (15 U.S.C. § 1681j). Many couples simply each request their own reports and exchange them, often as part of preparing a prenup. Broward Private Investigations does not pull credit reports.

How does this connect to a Florida prenuptial agreement?

Florida’s Uniform Premarital Agreement Act is in s. 61.079, F.S. A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties, and it takes effect on marriage. It can cover property, spousal support and other matters, but it cannot adversely affect a child’s right to support (s. 61.079(4)(b)).

Disclosure is central. An agreement is not enforceable if the challenging party proves it was not signed voluntarily, or was the product of fraud, duress, coercion or overreaching. It is also not enforceable if it was unconscionable when signed and, before signing, the challenging party was not given fair and reasonable disclosure of the other’s property or financial obligations, did not waive that disclosure in writing, and did not have adequate knowledge of them (s. 61.079(7)(a)). In plain terms, honest financial disclosure protects both of you. Verifying the facts behind a disclosure is a sensible step, and it is a conversation to have with your family law attorney, who decides what the agreement needs.

What will an investigator not do?

Pull a credit report, bank records or phone records.
Log in to your partner’s email, social media or cloud accounts, or install anything on their phone or car. Unauthorized access to a computer or electronic device is a crime in Florida (s. 815.06, F.S.).
Record conversations without all parties’ consent, which Florida prohibits (s. 934.03, F.S.).
Pose as someone else to get information from a bank, employer or former spouse.

Those limits protect you too. Information obtained unlawfully can expose you to criminal and civil liability and can damage the relationship far more than any record could.

How is a pre-marriage check done in practice?

Intake. You share what you know: full name, date of birth if you have it, places lived, what you have been told about prior marriages, children, business and finances, and the specific things that concern you.
Identity and address history. The investigator confirms the person and builds a list of counties and states to search.
Records searches. Marriage, divorce, civil, criminal, bankruptcy, lien, property, corporate and licence records in each relevant place. Our background investigations and background reports describe the scope.
Verification. Each record is matched to your partner by more than a name, using dates of birth, addresses and case details, so a stranger with the same name does not end up in your report.
Written report. Findings with sources and case numbers, and a clear note of anything that could not be confirmed.

The work is discreet. Public-records research does not involve contacting your partner, their family or their employer.

What should I do with what I find?

Most reports confirm what you were told, and that is a good outcome. If something does not match, take it to your partner calmly, with the record in hand, and give them a chance to explain. Many discrepancies have ordinary explanations: a divorce finalised in another state, a business dissolved after the pandemic, an old judgment since paid. If the answer does not hold up, or if you find signs of an undissolved marriage or concealed debts, speak with a family law attorney before the wedding, not after.

Broward Private Investigations works with licensed Florida private investigators across Broward County. If you are planning a marriage and want the facts verified quietly and lawfully, call (954) 235-4955 or contact us for a confidential consultation.