What a Private Investigator Cannot Do in Tennessee

A license is permission to investigate, not extra power

Tennessee's Private Investigators Licensing and Regulatory Act defines investigative work broadly, including gathering information about a person's identity, habits, conduct and whereabouts and securing evidence for court (Tenn. Code Ann. § 62-26-202). What the Act does not do is exempt investigators from criminal law. An investigator has the same right to be on a public sidewalk or in a bar as anyone else, and the same obligation not to trespass, intercept communications or invade privacy.

This matters when you are choosing whom to hire. If someone offers methods that would be illegal for you, they are illegal for them too, and evidence gathered that way can create problems rather than solve them.

It also matters for licensing. Tennessee can suspend or revoke an investigator's license, or impose a civil penalty of up to $2,000, for violating the Act or its rules, for fraud, deceit or misrepresentation, or after a criminal conviction (§ 62-26-217). A licensed investigator has real reasons to stay inside the lines, and you should expect them to tell you plainly when something you ask for is off limits.

The sections below cover the limits that come up most often in partner surveillance. They apply to the investigator, and almost all of them apply equally to you.

No GPS trackers

Under § 39-13-606, it is an offense to knowingly install, conceal or place an electronic tracking device in or on a motor vehicle to monitor or follow an occupant without the consent of all owners of the vehicle. It is a Class A misdemeanor.

The exceptions are narrow: law enforcement in a criminal investigation following state and federal law, a parent or guardian tracking a minor child in a vehicle the parent owns or leases, tracking stolen property or stolen vehicles, and systems installed by the manufacturer. There is no exception for private investigators or for spouses. A jointly owned car still requires the other owner's consent.

Tennessee's stalking statute (§ 39-17-315) also counts a single instance of placing a tracking device without consent as part of a course of conduct. Nashville Girls Trip Check investigators never place GPS trackers. Mobile Surveillance is done the traditional way, by a licensed investigator following on foot and by vehicle.

No recording conversations they are not part of

Tennessee is a one-party consent state. Section 39-13-601 makes it an offense to intentionally intercept wire, oral or electronic communications, with an exception for a person who is a party to the communication or where one party has given prior consent, as long as the interception is not for the purpose of a criminal or tortious act.

In practice, an investigator observing her at a restaurant in The Gulch or a honky-tonk on Lower Broadway can photograph and video what is visible in public, but cannot plant a recorder at her table or capture her private phone calls. Neither can you: hiding a recording device in her luggage or hotel room to capture conversations with others falls outside the exception.

The same reasoning applies to messages. Reading her texts or direct messages as they arrive, through a mirrored device or forwarding setup she did not agree to, can amount to intercepting electronic communications and unauthorized access to her device, which is a different thing from surveillance. Lawful evidence from a trip comes from what can be seen in public: where the group went, when, and who was there. That kind of documentation is also far easier to explain later to an attorney.

No getting into phones, accounts or records

Accessing any computer, computer system or network without authorization is an offense under § 39-14-602, a Class A misdemeanor. Phones, email, cloud storage and social media accounts are computer systems for this purpose. Guessing a password, using a saved login without permission, or installing monitoring software on someone else's device are the kinds of conduct this covers.

Federal law adds two more lines. Obtaining someone's confidential phone records from a carrier through false statements, or through unauthorized online account access, is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1039. Obtaining a person's bank or financial account information from a financial institution through false pretenses is prohibited by 15 U.S.C. § 6821 (with narrow exceptions that do not cover a partner's trip).

A licensed investigator should never offer any of this. If someone does, treat it as a reason not to hire them.

Other lines investigators cannot cross

• Trespassing. Entering or remaining on property without the owner's permission is criminal trespass under § 39-14-405. Investigators watch hotel and Airbnb entrances from public vantage points and do not go to room doors, private balconies or fenced yards.
• Impersonating police or officials. Posing as a law enforcement officer is a Class A misdemeanor under § 39-16-301, and pretending to be a government officer or employee with intent to injure or defraud is also criminal impersonation. Investigators cannot flash badges, make arrests or demand information as if they were police.
• Invasive photography. Under § 39-13-605, photographing someone without consent where they have a reasonable expectation of privacy, in the circumstances the statute describes, is a crime. Professional surveillance documents public comings and goings, not private moments.
• Harassment. Investigators do not contact, confront or follow someone in a way meant to frighten them. Conduct that serves a legitimate purpose is excluded from the stalking statute's definition of harassment, but intimidation is not.
• Sharing your information. Under § 62-26-221, a licensee may not disclose information obtained for a client to anyone else unless required by law, and may not give a client a false report.

What a Nashville investigator can do

Within those limits, a licensed investigator can do a lot. They can watch a hotel or Airbnb entrance from public vantage points and document, with time-stamped photos, who leaves and returns and when. They can follow on foot and by vehicle through downtown, Midtown, The Gulch or wherever the night goes, documenting public activity in photo and video. They can sit in a public bar or restaurant like any other customer.

That is how Nashville Girls Trip Check works. Hotel Staging covers the hotel or Airbnb entrance; Mobile Surveillance covers the night out. Investigators work only in public places: streets, bars, restaurants, hotel lobbies and entrances. They never enter private rooms, access phones or accounts, place GPS trackers, or break any law. No one can guarantee what surveillance will show, and a quiet night is a real and common result.

If you want to talk through whether what you have in mind is lawful, call or text (629) 310-8667 before paying.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Laws change and every situation is different. For questions about divorce, custody or your own legal exposure, talk with a Tennessee family law attorney.