1. What Silent Investigative is
Silent Investigative is an independent public-record research and investigative journalism practice. It researches, analyzes, and reports on matters of public interest using public records, public filings, and lawfully accessible sources.
It is not a government agency, a law-enforcement agency, an emergency service, a law firm, an accounting firm, or a consumer-reporting agency. Nothing here is legal advice, accounting advice, financial advice, or an audit, and no attorney–client or accountant–client relationship is created by contacting or engaging Silent Investigative.
If you are in immediate danger, contact emergency services. If a crime is in progress, contact law enforcement.
2. What research is not offered for
Research is not offered, and may not be used, for decisions about employment, housing, tenancy, credit, insurance, or similar eligibility determinations governed by the Fair Credit Reporting Act or comparable state law. It is not offered for stalking, harassment, intimidation, or locating a person who does not wish to be found. Requests of that kind are declined without discussion.
3. How cases are accepted
Every case begins with a written question. If the public record cannot answer that question, you are told so before any work begins, and that is the end of it rather than a reason to keep billing.
Cases are accepted selectively, on the strength of the question and the time available to answer it properly. No inquiry creates an obligation to take a case, and declining a case implies nothing about its merit.
4. Scope, fees, and changes
Scope, deliverable, timeline, and cost are agreed in writing before work starts. Work is priced case by case; there is no standard rate card, because there is no standard case.
If the record leads somewhere the agreed scope does not cover, that is raised with you rather than absorbed silently or expanded unilaterally. Scope changes are agreed in writing.
Fees are for the research effort, not for a particular conclusion. A finding that contradicts what you hoped to establish is a completed piece of work, and is billed as one.
5. What is delivered
A written report in which every finding is tied to the record it came from, material claims are checked against a second independent record, disagreements between sources are stated rather than resolved by preference, and what remains unknown is listed explicitly.
Custom tooling and AI-assisted review are used to widen searches and surface documents. Conclusions rest on documents a person has read.
6. What is not promised
No outcome is promised. The public record contains what it contains. A case may end with a clear answer, a partial answer, or a documented finding that the record cannot answer the question — and the last of those is a legitimate result, not a failure of the work.
Public records may be incomplete, out of date, mis-keyed, or wrong. Findings reflect the record as it stood when it was examined.
7. Confidentiality and its limits
Client and source identities are protected to the fullest extent permitted by law and are not disclosed to subjects of research or to the public.
Confidentiality cannot be guaranteed where disclosure is compelled by valid legal process. There is no attorney–client privilege. Reporter's-privilege and shield-law protections vary by jurisdiction and have limits. See Secure contact for how to reduce what exists to be compelled in the first place.
8. Referral and publication
Where evidence establishes a credible, documented basis for further inquiry, findings may be referred to the appropriate oversight body, regulator, law-enforcement agency, or news organization. That recipient — not Silent Investigative — decides what happens next.
Engaging Silent Investigative does not purchase silence. Where a matter is of genuine public interest and the record supports it, findings may be published or referred. Where that possibility exists it is raised before work begins, not sprung afterward.
Conversely, nothing is published or forwarded merely because it was alleged. Allegations are not treated as facts.
9. Your obligations
- Describe the question accurately, including facts that cut against your position. Omitted context wastes paid research time and produces a worse answer.
- Do not submit classified or national-security information, material obtained by unauthorized access to any system or account, or information you are legally or contractually barred from disclosing.
- Do not use any deliverable for a purpose excluded in section 2, or in any way that violates law.
- You are responsible for what you do with a report after you receive it.
10. Ownership and use of reports
Reports are prepared for the engaging party's use for the purpose described in the engagement. Silent Investigative retains copyright in its own written work and retains the right to use underlying research and methodology in journalism, subject to section 7.
Reports may not be republished, excerpted misleadingly, or presented as an audit, a legal opinion, or an official finding.
11. Corrections
If a published finding is wrong, say so and point to the record. Corrections are made promptly and marked as corrections rather than quietly edited.
12. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, liability arising out of any engagement is limited to the fees paid for that engagement, and no liability is accepted for indirect or consequential loss, including lost profits or business opportunity, or for decisions taken on the basis of a report.
13. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of [STATE], and any dispute is subject to the courts of [COUNTY, STATE].
14. Changes
These terms may be updated; the version in force for an engagement is the one in effect when that engagement is agreed in writing.
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Last updated 25 August 2026