For law firms
Records research your file can actually use
Cited public-records research for Canadian litigation, priced per matter and documented well enough to be exhibited. No field work, no opinions we cannot source, and no claim we can produce something Canada does not publish.
Short answer
Verified
Sleuthify produces documented public-records research for Canadian matters: asset and encumbrance searches, corporate structure, litigation and insolvency history, property and title, and party locates. Every claim is footnoted to a retrievable source with a retrieval timestamp, and each report carries a methodology appendix and an explicit statement of what could not be found.
Where it earns its fee
The searches that change how a file is run
Not a service menu — the six places records research usually changes the strategy or the advice.
asset search canada
Asset Search
Before issuing, and before spending another dollar on enforcement. A judgment against nothing costs the client the litigation and returns zero.canadian court records search
Court Records Search
Litigation history for a party or a witness — including the pattern of how a counterparty behaves when a deal goes wrong.corporate records search canada
Corporate Records Search
Establishing which entity actually holds the assets, and which other entities the same principals control across provinces.ppsa search canada
Lien and PPSA Search
Priority. Who ranks ahead of your client, on what collateral, and whether a writ is already being enforced.property records search canada
Property Records Search
Title, charges, and transfer consideration — which establishes a value baseline in family law and enforcement alike.heir search canada
Estate and Heir Search
Locating beneficiaries and identifying claims against an estate before distribution exposes the executor personally.
Affidavit-ready
What makes the document usable in a proceeding
A summary with no provenance is not evidence of anything. Five properties do the work, and all five are in every paid report.
1. A citation on every claim
Each finding names its source, the record identifier where the registry issues one, and the timestamp at which it was retrieved. Where an operator permits public linking the footnote links the record; where it does not — a paid registry, a counter-only court file — the citation is written so that a third party could request the same record themselves.
2. A stated confidence, with the reasoning
Identity resolution is the hard part of Canadian records work, and a report that hides its ambiguity is worse than useless because counsel will act on it. Every finding carries one of four levels, each defined in writing in the appendix: confirmed means two or more independent sources agree with no conflicting identifier; possible means a plausible match on a common name and should be treated as a lead.
3. A methodology appendix
Which connectors ran, in what order, keyed on which identifiers, at what cost, and under which lawful basis. It is written for the reader who wants to reproduce the search rather than trust it, which is the same reader who might cross-examine on it.
4. An explicit gaps section
What we looked for and did not find, which sources returned nothing, which were skipped and why, and which jurisdictions have no online equivalent of the search you needed. Ontario’s absent owner-name land index and absent consolidated civil docket appear here constantly, and saying so is more useful to a file than implying completeness.
5. An audit trail behind it
36 event types are written append-only per case — every source queried, returned, skipped for budget, or refused by policy — and retained for 7 years. If the search itself is ever put in issue, there is a record of it that was not written after the fact.
In every Records Report
- People who co-appear with the subject in public records
- Every single claim footnoted to a retrievable source and a retrieval timestamp
- An explicit gaps section — what we looked for and could not find
- Methodology appendix suitable for attaching to an affidavit
Per-matter billing
One matter, one file, one fee you can quote in advance
Fixed pricing exists because a disbursement estimate that moves is worse for a client relationship than a higher number that does not.
| Records Report | Deep Research | |
|---|---|---|
| Fee | $249 per case | Custom quote, scoped on a call |
| Turnaround | Typically 20 minutes, guaranteed under 4 hours | Scoped on a call, typically 3–10 business days |
| Subjects per case | 3 | 10 |
| Matter reference required | Yes — recorded on the case and the invoice | Yes — recorded on the case and the invoice |
| Analyst reads the file | No — fully automated | Yes |
| File retention | 2 years from closure | 7 years from closure |
The lawful basis we record for a litigation file
PIPEDA s.7(3)(c) — collection and disclosure required for a legal proceeding. Court records are separately publicly available under SOR/2001-7(d).
Selected at intake as “Evidence for a legal proceeding I'm party to (or counsel on)”. Minimum tier: Records Report.
Firm accounts
On requestMultiple matters under one account, per-matter invoicing, and a consolidated monthly statement. Ask us — we would rather set this up properly than have a clerk pay by card and reconcile it later.
Deep Research
When the crawler hits a wall, a person takes the file
When the automated pass hits a wall, an analyst works the registries by hand — filing retrieval requests, reading dockets, and chasing the paper the crawler cannot reach.
The analyst will
- Everything in the Records Report
- A scoping call to define exactly what question you need answered
- Manual registry retrievals — certified copies, historical filings, microfiche
- Court file review: pleadings, endorsements, and dockets the crawler cannot parse
- Freedom-of-information and ATIP requests filed on your behalf
- Corporate structure mapped across jurisdictions, including numbered companies
- Land registry chain-of-title research
- A written analyst opinion on what the record supports and what it does not
- Referral to a licensed investigation agency if your matter needs field work
The analyst will not
- Surveillance, following, or physical observation — we refer this out
- Interviewing third parties — we refer this out
- Any contact with the subject of the research
- Sworn testimony (the licensed partner agency provides this)
Ontario’s counter-only civil filings and its lack of an owner-name land index are the two reasons this tier exists.
Questions counsel asks
Before you send a matter
- Can a Sleuthify report be attached to an affidavit?
- The report is built to be exhibited: every claim carries a footnote naming the source, the record identifier where one exists, and the date and time it was retrieved, and the methodology appendix sets out which sources were searched, which were skipped, and on what basis. Whether it is admissible in your matter is a question for you — we produce a documented record of a search, not an opinion on its admissibility, and we do not swear affidavits.
- Will an analyst give evidence about the search?
- No. We do not provide sworn testimony at any tier. On the Deep Research tier the analyst produces a written opinion on what the record supports and what it does not, and the audit trail evidences the search steps. Where a matter needs a witness who can be examined on investigative work, we refer you to a licensed investigation agency and take no fee for the referral.
- How does billing work per matter?
- One case is one matter. The Records Report is a fixed fee per case, so it can be quoted to a client or included in a disbursement estimate before the work starts, and Deep Research is scoped and quoted on a call. Litigation-support cases require a file or matter reference at intake, which appears on the invoice and in the audit trail for that case.
- Is Sleuthify a licensed private investigation agency?
- No, and it is not structured to be one. Sleuthify is a self-serve public-records search platform: the client runs the search and sets the purpose, and the platform searches sources anyone may lawfully access. We conduct no field work, no interviews, and no contact with the subject. Where a matter requires licensed investigative work, we refer it to a licensed agency at no charge.
- Can you search records on the opposing party without notice to them?
- Searching genuinely public records requires no notice. PIPEDA's Regulations Specifying Publicly Available Information permit collection from statutory public registries and from records of judicial and quasi-judicial bodies, among three other categories, and the litigation-support purpose additionally engages PIPEDA s.7(3)(c). What we will not do is search a person protected by an order against your client, or use the platform where a no-contact condition runs in either direction.
- How long do you keep the file?
- Deep Research files are retained for 7 years from closure and the audit trail for the same period, because a report relied on in litigation may have to be produced later. Records Report files are retained for 2 years. You can ask for earlier destruction, and the destruction itself is logged.
Nothing on this page is legal advice, and we are not your firm’s agent. Reconciled against the product contracts on 2026-08-12.