PI Portal Knowledge Base
A state-by-state directory of private investigator law in the United States.
Use the sidebar to jump to any state. Each state page covers licensing, surveillance, recording consent, domestic investigations, cybersecurity, and skip-tracing rules. Federal statutes that apply uniformly across every jurisdiction are collected on the Federal Laws page.
Client Access & Case Status
What happens to a client's login when a case is closed?
Nothing. Closing a case (setting status to closed) has no effect on the client's ability to log in to their portal. The client can still authenticate with their password or a magic link, view their portal, and see the closed case listed in their case history.
Case status is a case-level field only. It describes the investigative workflow state of a single case, not the client's account access.
What actually blocks a client from logging in?
Only client termination (terminated = 1 on the client record) revokes portal access. When a client is terminated:
- Password login returns a 403 error: "This account has been terminated."
- Magic link (Portal Access Link) redirects to the home page instead of logging them in.
Termination is applied by moving a client to Past Clients — either manually or via the bulk "Move Inactive →" action (which terminates all clients whose cases are all closed with no open cases).
Summary: case status vs. client termination
| Action | Client can log in? | Cases still visible? |
|---|---|---|
Case set to closed | Yes | Yes |
| Client terminated (Past Clients) | No | N/A — access blocked |
Marketing Tab — Closest PI Column
What is the Closest PI column?
The Marketing tab's prospects table includes a Closest PI column to the right of the Location column. It shows the name of a city approximately 20 miles from the prospect's listed location, giving you a quick sense of how close your investigator network is to each lead.
How does it work?
When the prospects table loads, each row's location is geocoded using OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) to find its coordinates, and then a nearby city roughly 20 miles away is looked up. Results are cached so repeated views don't re-fetch. The column loads asynchronously — you may see a brief spinner while each cell resolves.
What if a location can't be resolved?
If the prospect has no location or the geocoding lookup fails, the Closest PI cell is left blank. No error is shown.
Private Investigation Booking
What is the Investigation Booking feature?
Cases with the discipline set to Private Investigation display an Investigation Booking panel inside the case detail. Admin and intake users can use this panel to record the starting address, scheduled date and time, and optional notes for an upcoming investigation.
How to book an investigation (admin / intake)
- Open a case with the
Private Investigationdiscipline. - Find the Investigation Booking panel below the discipline section.
- Click + Book Investigation.
- Enter the starting address, date, time, and any optional notes.
- A Google Maps preview loads automatically as you type the address.
- Click Save Booking. The panel immediately reflects the saved details.
Updating or clearing a booking
Click + Book Investigation again to edit an existing booking — the form pre-fills with the current values. To remove the booking entirely, open the modal and click Clear Booking.
What the client sees
Once a booking is saved, the client's portal displays an Investigation Booking card above the "Your Investigator" card on their case detail page. It shows the scheduled date and time, the starting address, and an Open in Google Maps → link. If notes were added they appear below the address. The card is hidden if no booking has been set, and it disappears from the client view if a booking is cleared.
Does the booking panel appear for non-PI cases?
No. The Investigation Booking panel only appears when the case discipline is set to Private Investigation. Changing the discipline away from Private Investigation hides the panel on the admin side; the client card likewise only shows when booking data exists.
Navigating Between Case and Client Records
Clicking the client name inside a case detail
When viewing a case detail overlay, the client's name in the info panel is a clickable link (shown in blue). Clicking it opens the client file overlay on top of the case detail — you can review the client record and then close it to return to the case without losing your place.
View Cases from a client file
The View Cases button in a client file now opens that client's most recently updated case directly, rather than navigating to the full case list. If the client has multiple cases the most recently active one opens. If no cases are found in the current session state, the system falls back to navigating the Cases tab and filtering by the client's name.