Fees of Our Leipzig Detective Agency

The Aaden Detectives Leipzig are qualified specialist investigators with many years of experience in the fields of corporate and private investigations. Most of our operatives have professional backgrounds in public authorities such as the police, criminal investigation departments, or intelligence services and therefore possess exceptional expertise. We place these qualities at the service of our clients with maximum commitment and likewise strive to present you with a fair fee model.

Below you will find an overview of the costs of our basic services. Our detective agency fundamentally refrains from charging hidden additional fees. Information on fees for flat-rate investigations (for example vehicle owner identification, address research, and others) is available upon request, as these flat rates are always based on the individually calculated effort involved.

Our Fees in Detail

• Base assignment fee                                        96,00 €
• Hourly rate per deployed investigator              94,00 €

• Kilometer rate per kilometer driven                   1,50 €

All prices are gross (including statutory VAT) for private individuals and net for clients subject to VAT.

Mileage is calculated either from our base in Leipzig or, in the case of more distant areas of operation, by individual agreement at favorable conditions, which we can offer due to our network of qualified local specialist investigators.

The hourly fee is billed fairly in 15-minute increments.

Included Services

At Aaden Corporate Detective Agency, no additional fees are charged; therefore, our fees include, among other things:

• Costs for the initial consultation and assignment discussion
• Costs for the provision of video and photographic material
• Telephone costs (excluding international calls)
• Costs for providing the necessary standard investigative equipment (excluding surveillance vans, video surveillance systems, and GPS trackers)
• Postage costs (excluding express deliveries and international shipments)

No surcharges, which are customary elsewhere, are applied for the following factors:

• Flat-rate expenses
• Meal costs
• Night operations
• Weekend operations
• Public holiday operations (excluding Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day)

Free and Non-Binding Initial Consultation

As the saying goes, asking questions costs nothing – and at Aaden Corporate Detective Agency, this saying is a lived reality. Our specialist detectives are happy to advise you free of charge and without obligation on any legitimate matter – by telephone (+49 341 3549 012-0), by email (info@aaden-detektive-leipzig.de), and/or in person at our office, at your home or company, or at a neutral location.

Reimbursability of Detective Costs

If detective operations serve to clarify a legally relevant matter and this matter could not be resolved by less intrusive means – which is generally the case when commissioning a detective agency – the resulting costs are reimbursable. This means, for example, that an employer harmed by wage continuation fraud can claim the detective costs incurred in the legally admissible clarification of the fraud case from the employee who caused the costs. The same applies to a mother who commissions detectives to prove that the father has violated his duty of care in supervising their joint child.

As a rule of thumb: the party responsible bears the costs. In court practice, this legal view is upheld with few exceptions. Accordingly, our clients must initially settle the invoices issued by us themselves, but they are often reimbursed by the party responsible afterward.

Among the various rulings that declare detective costs as reimbursable pre-trial party expenses, provided they were necessary for legal prosecution or defense pursuant to Section 91 (1) of the German Code of Civil Procedure (ZPO), are, among others, case no. 14 NW 671/90 of the Higher Regional Court of Koblenz, case no. 8 WF 96/88 of the Higher Regional Court of Stuttgart (maintenance dispute), case no. 13 T 97/99 of the Regional Court of Cologne (tenancy dispute), case no. W 1234/76 of the Higher Regional Court of Munich, and many more.

Especially Relevant for Companies:

"If the client of a detective agency is a business owner or freelancer, the invoice of a detective agency is generally tax-deductible as a business expense." (Hesse Finance Court, case no. 8 K 3370/88, EFG. 89, p. 576)