How to check someone's date of death for free

An individual's date of birth and death are considered vital records. They are usually kept on file permanently with the state he resided in at the time of his birth and death. Whether searching for your ancestors or if you just simply need to know an individual's date of death, there are ways to find this information at no charge.

Gather as much information as possible about the person in question, including her date of birth, full name, birthplace and last known residence. This will significantly improve your chances of finding the correct information.

Visit the Social Security Death Index website at http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/. Enter the individual's first and last name into the interactive search boxes. Enter the individual's social security number if known; it is not mandatory to receive results.

Browse through the results on the next page. Be certain to look at the individual's date of birth and last place of residence if known as there may be several deceased individuals displayed on the results page. Look in the third row on the results page under the tab that says "Death." This is the date of death for that person.

Access the obituary section of the newspaper of the community in which the individual lived. Do an Internet search for the online version of the newspaper's obituary section. Fill out all information completely. Be certain to expand your search to include archived materials. Click submit and view the results. Go to the library of the community where the deceased last lived if the newspaper's online obituary does not yield the desired results. Search through your local library's newspaper archives under the obituary section.