Palm Beach County Forensics for Estates, Private Wealth and Closely Held Business
The Deciding Record Is Often on a Principal's Phone
In Palm Beach County the evidence that settles an estate or a business dispute is usually a principal's phone, a trust accounting export or a mailbox mixing business, trust and adviser correspondence. Global Digital Forensics preserves the part of that record the dispute needs and documents exactly where the boundary was drawn. Our examiners trace who sent an instruction, when a document changed and where a file traveled, and they explain the findings with the discretion these matters demand.
Palm Beach office line
Private Matters, Handled From the Miami Office
Palm Beach matters go to the Miami office at (786) 219-1210, and the 24/7 hotline at (800) 868-8189 reaches a responder at any hour. Working meetings take place at law offices in West Palm Beach, Palm Beach and Boca Raton, at the client site or by video for custodians outside the region, every acquisition follows the documented hashing and custody procedure our examiners have testified to in federal and state courts, and the first consultation is free.
The county concentrates private wealth, family offices, closely held businesses and the corporate operations of Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens, and its disputes regularly cross the line between personal, trust and business records: portfolio management systems, custodian statements, trust accounting, digitized instructions and the phones of principals and their advisers. The work is to preserve what the dispute needs, document the boundary and be ready to explain both under oath.
Estate or business record sitting on a personal device? Ask the Miami intake how the boundary would be documented before anyone powers it on.
Palm Beach venues and custodians
The Courts and Offices Where These Records Matter
Southern District of Florida, West Palm Beach division
The West Palm Beach division of the Southern District of Florida holds court at 701 Clematis Street. Our reports and expert testimony are prepared to the schedule the assigned judge or magistrate sets, with workpapers organized so the opposing expert can follow every finding back to the artifact that supports it.
Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, Palm Beach County
Palm Beach County civil, probate and complex business matters sit at the Palm Beach County Judicial Center. Probate is a significant venue for high net worth estate matters, and the technical questions those cases raise, such as who sent an instruction, when a document was changed and where a file travelled, sit squarely within our practice.
Family office and private wealth firms
The Palm Beach corridor concentrates family offices, trust companies and private wealth firms. Our technical work supports internal review, employment and trade secret matters and civil disputes over data or intellectual property, always under a documented chain of custody that holds up when the matter moves from the boardroom to the courtroom.
Condominium and association disputes
Palm Beach and Broward condominiums and homeowners associations generate disputes that touch access control systems, camera archives, board communications and management platform records. We scope preservation to the specific period at issue rather than sweeping the whole archive, which keeps the collection proportionate and the review affordable.
Palm Beach practice notes
Probate, Business Exits and the Boca Raton Corridor
High net worth probate and estate matters
Probate and estate matters in Palm Beach typically pull in mailbox archives, closely held business records, trust accounting platforms, custodian statements, personal device data and personal cloud accounts. We scope preservation to the beneficiaries, entities and time period at issue. Where the authenticity of a document is disputed, the technical record covers the native file, the storage location metadata and, where it exists, the platform side audit trail, so the opinion rests on what the systems recorded rather than on inference.
Closely held business disputes
Closely held business disputes in Palm Beach often involve mixed personal and business use of the same accounts and devices. We scope preservation to the business related records at issue and document it so a court can see what was and was not captured. Where a departing owner or officer is involved, we examine USB and file transfer artifacts, personal cloud synchronization and repository activity in the context of that person's role and ordinary workflow, so that access is not mistaken for copying.
Boca Raton corporate and technology corridor
Boca Raton hosts technology, biotech and corporate operators running Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace, Slack or Teams, cloud infrastructure with identity and access controls and enterprise SaaS for finance, HR and operations. We preserve the identity provider record, the tenant audit log, endpoint telemetry and the SaaS records the matter reaches, so the technical record supports the scope counsel has defined and nothing beyond it.
If a tenant audit log is the record that matters, read how the examination is scoped on the computer forensics page, then bring the defined scope to the call.
Send the question and the sources you know about, and we will map the examination with you.
Frequently asked
Estates, Fiduciaries and Principals' Devices
Do you cover Palm Beach probate and estate matters?
Yes. High net worth probate and estate disputes are a regular part of the Palm Beach work, and the evidence usually sits in mailbox archives, closely held business records, trust accounting platforms, personal devices and personal cloud accounts. We trace who sent an instruction, when a document changed and where a file traveled, and report it for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit or the federal court.
Can you preserve records across personal and business accounts?
Yes, under a protocol counsel approves. Principals often run business and personal life through the same devices and accounts, so we preserve the business records at issue and document what was captured, which lets the court see the boundary we drew and the reason for it.
Do you support the Southern District of Florida West Palm Beach division?
Yes. Reports and expert testimony for the West Palm Beach division are prepared to the schedule the court sets, with workpapers an opposing expert can trace to the source. Bring the docket and the governing order to the first call and we will confirm the examiner and the scope of the report.
Confirm Authority Over Estate Records First
We begin with the legal representative, the owner of each account or device, the evidence question and the order or letters that permit collection. We confirm the estate's authority over each device, account and third party record at the start, rank the sources by retention and by the disputed dates, and keep unrelated personal information out from the start.
The inventory marks each source by status, for example an estate owned laptop received into custody, a cloud record awaiting lawful access and an account held by another entity, so everyone involved knows what is secured and what is outstanding. For every item we record the acquisition history, custody, source identifiers, recovered items and any unreadable or missing material, giving the court a reliable account of what the records show.
Authority to collect is the first thing we check, so call (800) 868-8189 with the order or letters in hand and the inventory begins on the call.
Talk with an examiner
Scope the Palm Beach Collection to the Dispute
Tell us where the principals and the devices are and what the matter needs to show. A senior examiner returns the call to confirm authority and set the preservation order, and the conversation stays confidential.
Since 1992 · 24/7 hotline · Confidential intake
What happens next
Talk to a Senior Examiner Before Anyone Opens the Device
On a free first call the examiner hears the facts, checks the authority to collect, names what to preserve now and gives you a timeline for the examination. We arrange a secure transfer for evidence and credentials.
Our 24/7 hotline is (800) 868-8189.
GDF does not accept pro se litigation cases, and GDF may decline matrimonial or family law cases at our discretion.
Reviewed by Joseph Caruso, Founder, CEO and CTO, CISSP. Last reviewed .