Get started with the Death Verification API

Plan: Death Verification API · For: Developers and businesses · Time: 4 min read

The Death Verification API checks a person against published obituaries from your own systems. You send a name and a few identifying details, and the API tells you whether it found a matching obituary, with a confidence score, the evidence, and a link to the source when one is available.

Your plan includes family extraction: the relatives named in a matching obituary.

How your account is set up

There's no self-serve signup. Our team creates your account. To evaluate the API first, request test keys and we'll set up a trial. Trials last 5 days. Once your account exists, you create your own API keys in the portal.

Sign in

1. Open the sign-in link in the email from ObituaryMonitor, or go to obituarymonitor.com and select Sign in.
2. You land on the developer Overview.

The sidebar

1. Overview, the Guide, and the Test Console get you from your first key to your first lookup (callout 1).
2. Watches re-check people for you on a schedule, and Batch Verification checks many people from a CSV file (callout 2).
3. Usage, Compliance, and API Keys cover your volume, your attestation, and your keys (callout 3).
4. Support is where you open a case (callout 4).
5. API Reference opens the full technical reference in a new tab (callout 5).

The Overview checklist

The Getting started card lists five steps to finish before you go to production. Use Integration guide, API docs, or Test console at the top for shortcuts (callout 1).

1. Create an API key and store it in your secrets manager (callout 2). See Create and manage API keys.
2. Record your acceptable-use attestation on the Compliance page (callout 3). See Compliance and permissible use.
3. Run a test lookup in the Test Console (callout 4). See Run a test lookup.
4. Review how scoring works (callout 5). See Understand results and scores.
5. Integrate by calling POST /api/v1/verify from your application (callout 6). See Make your first API call.

Good to know

• Results come from obituaries and web sources we search. not_found isn't proof of life, and a result isn't a government death-registry record.
• The API isn't a consumer report. Don't use it for FCRA-covered decisions.
• Learn more on the Death Verification API page.

Related

• Create and manage API keys
• Understand results and scores
• Request test keys, trials, and continuing service