Can You Find Out If Someone is Dead?

When people grow older and apart, they often wonder what happened to friends and colleagues of yore. They ask themselves, can you find out if someone is dead? With the advent of technology and internet, most information, including obituaries, can be searched online today. Here are a few search techniques to find out if someone is dead.

Google

To find out if someone is dead, google is the best search engine to use. Search the name of the person you are looking for enclosed in quotation marks, the state, and the word “obituary.” For example, if you are looking for Adam Smith of Texas, write in the google search tab, “Adam Smith” & “Texas” & “obituary” and this will give you a myriad of results. Funeral homes have their own online obituaries. Legacy.com is a great resource as well. If this doesn’t produce any results, the next best method is through social media.

Social Media

Social media is a great resource to find out if someone is dead. Many people have online profiles, be it Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, or Instagram. Granted, the older ones, such as the octogenarians (80’s and above), might not be technologically savvy enough to have an online account. However, their children and other family members might have an account. If a search does not yield any results, try searching their family members. Browse through the profiles of their relatives. Generally, if the person has died, his family members would have made a public announcement in their profile about it. If you can’t find it in the family members’ profile, you can always ask and confirm with them by private message.

Newspapers

For those who are less technologically savvy, death announcements of someone who has died are normally published in the local newspaper. If you are from the same town and receive the newspaper, search the obituary section to see if the person you are looking for has died.

Government Records

If all else fails, you can always check in-person the death certificates in your local government to see if a person has died. You may also check the probate courts in the county where the person last resided to see if a probate case has been initiated by an executor or administrator. Normally, their phone numbers are listed in the website, and you can make a quick call to check the procedure in searching for these records.

Should you need any legal assistance, we, at the Law Offices of Albert Goodwin, are here for you. We have offices in New York City, Brooklyn, NY and Queens, NY. You can call us at 212-233-1233 or send us an email at [email protected].