# ObituaryMonitor - Full Documentation for LLMs

> SaaS obituary monitoring platform that continuously scans 2,500+ obituary sources and delivers automated alerts when a name match is found.

ObituaryMonitor is a web-based SaaS application (subscription, browser-based, no installation required) that monitors funeral home websites, newspaper obituary archives, and memorial platforms around the clock. Users add names to a watchlist; the platform emails them when a new obituary is published that matches a watched name with high confidence.

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## Table of Contents

1. [Product Overview](#product-overview)
2. [Core Features](#core-features)
3. [How It Works](#how-it-works)
4. [Target Users](#target-users)
5. [Subscription Tiers](#subscription-tiers)
6. [Page Structure](#page-structure)
7. [Integrations](#integrations)
8. [Compliance & Legal Use Cases](#compliance--legal-use-cases)
9. [Technical Architecture](#technical-architecture)
10. [Key Terminology](#key-terminology)
11. [Contact Information](#contact-information)

---

## Product Overview

ObituaryMonitor solves the problem of finding and tracking obituary publications at scale. Instead of manually checking dozens of sources repeatedly, users add names once and receive automatic notifications when a matching obituary is published anywhere across thousands of monitored sources.

### The Problem We Solve

- Death notices are published across 19,000+ funeral homes and thousands of newspapers — no single source covers all of them
- Aggregators like Legacy.com cover only sources with formal partnership agreements — thousands of obituaries never appear there
- Manual searching requires checking multiple sources daily with unpredictable timing (obituaries appear 1 day to 2+ weeks after death)
- Professionals managing dozens of matters cannot manually monitor all relevant names simultaneously
- Manual searches produce no automatic documentation, creating compliance risk for fiduciaries

### Our Solution

- Continuous 24/7 scanning of 2,500+ obituary sources (funeral homes, newspapers, aggregators)
- Forensic name-matching engine with fuzzy logic and alias detection — catches "Bill" for "William," "Estate of Smith" for "John Smith"
- Multi-factor confidence scoring combining name similarity, location, age, and date signals
- Instant email notifications only when confidence exceeds 90%
- Time-stamped audit logs and auto-generated Certificate of Diligence for legal compliance

---

## Core Features

### 1. Forensic Name-Matching Engine
ObituaryMonitor's matching goes beyond exact string comparison. The engine applies:
- Fuzzy logic (Levenshtein distance and phonetic matching) to handle typos and spelling variations
- Alias and nickname detection ("Jon" vs. "Jonathan," "Betty" vs. "Elizabeth")
- Legal name format recognition ("Estate of Smith, Jonathan" vs. "Jonathan Smith")
- Multi-factor confidence scoring: name similarity weight + location match + age match + date plausibility

Only matches scoring 90%+ trigger alerts, keeping false positive rates low.

### 2. Multi-Source Scanning
Monitors simultaneously:
- Funeral home websites (individual sites and major networks)
- Newspaper obituary sections (daily and weekly, national and regional)
- Memorial platforms (Legacy.com, Echovita, Dignity Memorial, Tributes.com)
- Online memorial and community pages

New sources are continuously added. Coverage exceeds 2,500 sources nationwide.

### 3. Instant Notifications
- Email alerts with obituary excerpt, source link, and confidence score
- In-app dashboard with match queue and confirm/dismiss workflow
- Webhook delivery to external systems (Enterprise/API tier)

### 4. Court-Ready Audit Logs & Certificate of Diligence
- Every search performed generates a time-stamped log entry
- Every match found or dismissed is recorded with confidence score and source
- Exportable PDF audit report documenting the full monitoring history for a matter
- Certificate of Diligence: a formatted compliance certificate stating that a diligent automated search was conducted across [N] sources during [date range], suitable for attachment to probate filings
- Negative Search Certificate: documentation that a thorough search found no matching obituary

### 5. Case Management (Professional+)
- Organize watches by case number, client name, and matter type
- Link multiple names to a single matter (estate creditors, beneficiaries, etc.)
- Track activity and alert history per matter
- Assign matters to team members

### 6. Team Collaboration (Professional+)
- Invite team members (paralegals, associates, assistants)
- Role-based access: owner, admin, member
- Shared visibility into all watches and matches
- Activity log across the team

### 7. Practice Management Integrations
Native bidirectional integrations:
- **Clio Manage** — sync contacts and matters; export audit data back to Clio
- **MyCase** — import contacts; receive alerts within case context
- **PracticePanther** — connect contacts for automated monitoring
- **Rocket Matter** — sync contacts and matters

---

## How It Works

### Step 1: Add a Watch
Enter the person's name and, optionally:
- State or city of residence
- Approximate age or birth year
- Known relatives (spouse, children) for enhanced matching
- Alternative names or maiden name

More context = higher matching precision, fewer false positives.

### Step 2: Continuous Monitoring
The platform:
- Ingests new obituaries from 2,500+ sources via RSS feeds, web crawling, and direct API connections
- Parses each obituary to extract name, death date, age, location, and surviving relatives
- Compares extracted data against every active watch using the forensic matching engine
- Scores each candidate match on multiple factors
- Suppresses alerts below the 90% confidence threshold

### Step 3: Get Notified
When a high-confidence match is found:
- Email alert delivered immediately with obituary excerpt, source URL, and confidence score
- Match appears in dashboard for review
- User confirms (links obituary to the watch) or dismisses (marks as wrong person)
- All activity logged with timestamp for audit trail

---

## Target Users

### Probate Attorneys
- Monitor known creditors of an estate to satisfy "reasonably diligent" creditor search requirements (Texas § 308.051, Florida § 733.2121, and equivalents in all states)
- Identify when named beneficiaries predecease a testator
- Detect deaths of interested parties during the administration period
- Generate court-ready audit logs and Certificate of Diligence for probate filings
- Manage multiple active matters simultaneously with case management features
- Integrate with Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, or Rocket Matter

### Estate Planning Attorneys & Trust Administrators
- Monitor trust beneficiaries for trigger events
- Track successive beneficiaries
- Document search efforts for fiduciary compliance

### Insurance Companies
- Proactive claims processing upon policyholder death
- Reduce unclaimed benefits through earlier detection
- Beneficiary and annuitant death monitoring
- Portfolio-level monitoring for large books of business

### Debt Collectors & Portfolio Managers
- Verify debtor death before attempting estate claims (FDCPA compliance)
- Identify timely probate filing windows
- Cease collection activity on deceased accounts promptly
- Document death verification for regulatory compliance

### Skip Tracers & Private Investigators
- Confirm subject status before deploying field resources
- Verify death for subject research
- Document search results with time-stamped audit trail

### Genealogists
- Monitor surnames in geographic regions to capture family obituaries
- Track distant or estranged relatives
- Collect obituary text for family history — obituaries often name surviving relatives, maiden names, and hometowns

### Individuals & Families
- Stay informed about elderly relatives in other cities
- Monitor estranged family members
- Track old friends, former colleagues, military contacts
- Personal plans available from $15/mo with 3-name watchlists (/personal)

---

## Subscription Tiers

### Personal (from $15/mo)
- Monitor up to 3 names
- Email notifications
- Basic matching
- For individuals and families
- See: /personal

### Professional
- Monitor up to 50 names
- Email notifications
- Forensic name-matching engine with alias detection
- Court-ready PDF audit reports
- Certificate of Diligence
- Case management
- Team collaboration
- We'll email you when a matching notice appears. Cancel anytime.
- CTA: get email alerts → /signup

### Enterprise / Firm
- Custom name limits (hundreds to thousands)
- Email and webhooks
- Full API access
- Native Clio, MyCase, PracticePanther, Rocket Matter integrations
- White-label PDF reports and bulk exports
- Dedicated account support
- CTA: "Request Firm Demo & API Access" → /demo

---

## Page Structure

### Public Marketing Pages

| URL | Purpose |
|-----|---------|
| / | Neutral homepage router: title targets broad keywords (obituary alerts, monitoring, death verification); hero routes to /for-families and /for-professionals; includes “Where obituaries are published” section + internal links to /guides/obituary-monitoring-and-alerts, /verify-death, /funeral-homes, /guides/how-to-know-if-someone-died |
| /for-families | Families & friends: obituary alerts/notifications; simple onboarding (“Add a name → we monitor → you get notified”); links to obituary timeline guide and family pricing |
| /for-professionals | Professionals: automated death verification framing; monitoring + documentation (audit logs, reports), bulk monitoring & API; routes to demo, workflow, and report examples |
| /how-it-works | 3-step process explanation |
| /pricing | Subscription plans and feature comparison |
| /compare | Manual searching vs. monitoring comparison |
| /compare/best-obituary-monitoring-services | **BOFU buyer-intent hub** (2026): "best obituary monitoring & alert services" positioning; explains that most obituary sites are search databases vs continuous monitoring with automatic notifications; includes Search site vs Google Alerts vs Monitoring service comparison table (find today, auto notify, monitor over time, funeral home coverage, documentation); buyer hub internal links (families → /obituary-monitoring-service, professionals → /death-verification-service, /verify-death, probate, skip tracing, /funeral-homes, vs Legacy, vs Google Alerts); FAQPage schema; related vs Echovita / EverLoved links in Related comparisons |
| /compare/obituary-monitor-vs-google-alerts | Detailed Google Alerts comparison |
| /about | Company background |
| /faq | Frequently asked questions |
| /demo | Request firm demo and API access |
| /solutions | Solutions overview |
| /use-cases | Use case library |
| /methodology | Matching and scoring methodology |
| /name-matching | Advanced Name Matching for Deceased Records: 6-layer algorithm (exact match → phonetic/Soundex/Metaphone → 800+ nickname pairs → Levenshtein edit-distance → maiden/alternate surnames → multi-factor confidence scoring). Includes common-name case studies (John Smith, Mary Johnson, James/Jim, diacritics), feature comparison table vs. Legacy.com and manual search, and confidence-scoring explainer. Schema: SoftwareApplication. |
| /compliance-sample | Sample audit log PDF download |
| /personal | Personal and family plans |
| /press | Press releases and media kit |

### Industry Solutions

| URL | Target Audience |
|-----|-----------------|
| /probate-attorneys | Probate law practitioners |
| /for-estate-attorneys | Estate planning and trust administration |
| /for-insurance-companies | Insurance claim processors |
| /for-debt-collectors | Debt collection agencies |
| /for-skip-tracers | Skip tracing professionals |
| /for-genealogists | Genealogy researchers |
| /private-investigators | Private investigators & skip tracers: headline on field-hour savings and live/deceased signals; sections include **when investigators need death verification** (skip tracing, background, insurance, missing person, heir search, witness location, legal, asset searches), **how investigators use death verification** (6-step workflow table: subject ID → obituary/funeral search → public records → verified → adjust field work → case file documentation), and CTAs to monitoring, integrations, death verification service; funnel to /verify-death/skip-tracing and related pages |
| /genealogy | Family/consumer genealogy |
| /solutions | Solutions hub |

### Integrations

| URL | Integration |
|-----|-------------|
| /integrations | All integrations overview |
| /integrations/clio | Clio Manage |
| /integrations/mycase | MyCase |
| /integrations/practicepanther | PracticePanther |
| /integrations/rocketmatter | Rocket Matter |

### Probate Coverage (SEO — State & County Pages)

| URL | Coverage |
|-----|---------|
| /probate | State coverage hub |
| /probate/texas | Texas § 308.051 — with forensic matching, Certificate of Diligence, dual CTAs |
| /probate/florida | Florida § 733.2121 |
| /probate/california | California probate |
| /probate/new-york | New York probate |
| /probate/illinois | Illinois probate |
| /probate/georgia | Georgia probate |
| /probate/pennsylvania | Pennsylvania probate |
| /probate/massachusetts | Massachusetts probate |
| /probate/washington | Washington state probate |
| /probate/colorado | Colorado probate |
| /probate/arizona | Arizona probate |
| /probate/michigan | Michigan probate |
| /probate/north-carolina | North Carolina probate |
| /probate/[county-slug] | County-level probate pages (Harris TX, Cook IL, etc.) |

### Pillar Pages (Topical Hubs)

| URL | Topic |
|-----|-------|
| /guides/how-to-find-out-if-someone-died | **Guide cluster hub (death discovery):** routes “did someone die?” scenarios to supporting guides and toward notification + `/start-monitoring`. Distinct from marketing pillar `/verify-death`. |
| /guides/how-to-find-an-obituary | **Guide cluster hub (obituary search):** routes search scenarios to tactical guides; `/funeral-homes` directory links here first. |
| /verify-death | Top-of-funnel hub titled "Death Verification Methods". Organizes 7 existing death verification guides into 4 grouped sections (obituary searches, death records, investigative/professional methods, professional workflows), plus a 5th routing decision block ("Choose the Right Verification Path"). Links to /deceased-debtors, /creditor-claims-estate, and /probate. Schema: WebPage + BreadcrumbList only (no FAQPage, no SoftwareApplication). |
| /deceased-debtors | Hub page for deceased debtor & estate collection: covers death verification, FDCPA-compliant account handling, skip tracing, creditor notice compliance, and how obituary monitoring helps debt collection agencies. Includes FAQPage schema and links to 11 related guides. |
| /creditor-claims-estate | Bridge pillar between /probate and /deceased-debtors. Covers what happens to debt after death, how creditors identify estates, filing a creditor claim, probate deadlines by state (8-state comparison table), and how obituary monitoring helps creditors maximize claim windows. Includes FAQPage schema, estate recovery lifecycle bar, and links to both pillars and related guides. |
| /probate-creditor-claim-deadlines | All-50-states reference page for probate creditor claim deadlines. Headline: "Probate Creditor Claim Deadlines by State". Targets legal search queries (probate creditor claim deadline, creditor claim period probate, estate creditor claim deadline). Sections: (1) Why deadlines matter — explains barred claims, short windows, publication-based vs. notice-based triggers, includes "short-deadline states to watch" callout card (NE/NM/OK at 2 months; FL/GA/LA/MS/NV at 3 months); (2) Full 50-state table with claim window and statute reference, highlighted rows for windows ≤ 3 months; (3) Why death detection timing matters — SSDMF delay comparison with visual bar chart (obituary: 1–3 days vs. SSDMF: 60–90+ days), inline link to /professional-monitoring; (4) Creditor recovery workflow — 5-step timeline diagram; (5) Estate recovery resource cluster (4 cards + related guides). Schema: WebPage + Article + BreadcrumbList. Back-linked from /creditor-claims-estate and /deceased-debtors. Primary CTA: /professional-monitoring. |
| /professional-monitoring | Professional product explanation page titled "Death Intelligence for Professional Workflows". Targeted at debt collectors, probate attorneys, private investigators, insurance companies, asset recovery firms, and skip tracers. Sections: (1) The Problem — no national death database, SSDMF delays, manual searching, missed claim deadlines, with a visual timeline showing recovery opportunity loss; (2) How Professional Monitoring Works — 4-step workflow: upload portfolio, scan 2,500+ sources, confidence-scored alert, generate verification report; (3) Workflow Diagram — 5-step visual showing where ObituaryMonitor enters the professional workflow (death → obituary published → ObituaryMonitor detects → verification report generated → estate recovery begins); (4) Portfolio Alert Example — mock portfolio alert card showing account number, confidence score, and "Generate verification report" CTA; (5) Verification Reports — "Court-Ready Death Verification" with mock report data block (name, detected date, source, confidence score, obituary URL), exportable for compliance; (6) Professional Use Cases — 6-industry grid (debt collection, probate attorneys, insurance, investigators, asset recovery, skip tracers) with pillar cluster links. Schema: WebPage + BreadcrumbList. No FAQPage, no SoftwareApplication. Primary CTAs: /pricing/professional and /signup. Part of the professional funnel: /probate → /deceased-debtors → /creditor-claims-estate → /professional-monitoring → /signup. |
| /death-verification-api | B2B landing page for Death Verification API access (business/API positioning, not consumer monitoring or self-service checkout). Headline outcome: "Verify Deceased Individuals Using Obituary Data"; subhead: Death Verification API. Targets probate, estate administration, insurance, compliance, skip tracing, legal, and investigative workflows. Sections: credibility strip (thousands of monitored sources, daily refreshes, source-attributed results); How It Works + supported inputs; sample CRM → API → match workflow diagram; example visual match card + JSON response; use case cards; SEO prose ("Common Death Verification Use Cases"); API pricing/volume guidance + Contact Sales block; Why ObituaryMonitor + confidence scoring; Request API Access form (name, company, email, monthly volume tiers Under 1k / 1k–5k / 5k–25k / 25k+, use case notes) posting to /api/leads with source `death_verification_api`; Request a Demo CTAs to /demo; FAQ (not-found ≠ proof of life; available obituary/death-notice sources only). Analytics: GA4 + `death_verification_api_events` with acquisition_channel attribution (direct, organic_search, email, linkedin, referral, paid). Schema: WebPage + FAQPage + BreadcrumbList. Nav: For Professionals dropdown + footer Product column. Listed in `src/app/sitemap.ts`. Technical API reference: /docs/api. |
| /death-by-county-feed-api | B2B landing page for obituary data API workflows (dual buyer journeys). Headline: "Obituary Data API for Business Workflows". (1) **Daily county obituary feeds** — push-based county monitoring via `GET /api/v1/county-feed/notices`, API pull or scheduled reports; for teams without existing records. (2) **Record enrichment** — batch/API matching via `POST /api/v1/verify` from death records, case lists, or research files; confidence scoring, source attribution, extended search for older lookbacks. Includes **Death Data Coverage by State** (`#coverage-by-state`) alphabetical directory of published `/county-death-feed/{state}/` landings (50 states + DC). Sections: Two Ways to Use ObituaryMonitor cards; Daily County Obituary Feeds + feed workflow; Built for Batch Research Workflows (enrichment path); Recent vs. Historical Coverage; Optional Batch Survivor Extraction (beta, separate batch workflow, best-effort, family members mentioned — not legal heirs); split feed vs. enrichment use cases and return fields; sample API JSON for both endpoints; pilot pricing (county feed, API lookup, batch enrichment). Request API Access form posting to /api/leads with source `county_feed` (geo CTAs: `source_page={state}_county_feed` / `dc_county_feed`). `/county-feed` 301 → this URL. Schema: WebPage + FAQPage + BreadcrumbList. Footer Product column. Listed in `src/app/sitemap.ts`. Technical reference: /docs/api/verify. |
| /county-death-feed/{state} | State commercial landings for County Feed death & obituary data — **all 50 U.S. states + DC**. Pattern examples: `/county-death-feed/california/`, `/county-death-feed/texas/`, `/county-death-feed/louisiana/` (parish language), `/county-death-feed/alaska/` and `/county-death-feed/virginia/` (area language), `/county-death-feed/district-of-columbia/`. Each page is a snapshot-backed public view (records 7d/30d, geographic coverage table as plain text — no commercial county URLs yet, cities, featured funeral-home sources, completeness where available, sample API JSON, FAQ). SEO: title "{State} Death Data & Obituary API \| ObituaryMonitor"; H1 "{State} Death Feed & Obituary API"; hub link label "{State} Death Data & Obituary API". Cross-linked from matching `/funeral-homes/{state}` pages. Full URL set in sitemap.xml and hub `#coverage-by-state`. Not official vital records / death certificates. |

### Educational Guides

The /guides hub is organized into 4 category sections: Obituary Research, Death Verification, Industry Workflows, and Legal & Compliance. Each guide includes FAQ schema (JSON-LD), ArticleSchema, internal links to related guides, and a CTA. **Topic funnel:** `/guides/how-to-find-out-if-someone-died` (death discovery hub) → supporting death guides → `/guides/how-to-find-an-obituary` (obituary search hub) → supporting obituary guides → `/guides/how-to-get-notified-when-someone-dies` + `/guides/obituary-monitoring-and-alerts` → `/start-monitoring`. `/funeral-homes` directory pages link to `/guides/how-to-find-an-obituary` first. New guide URLs are enumerated in `src/app/sitemap.ts` (`guidePages`).

#### Obituary Research

| URL | Topic |
|-----|-------|
| /guides/obituary-statistics | Research-style statistics guide: CDC/NCHS annual U.S. deaths, NFDA funeral-home count, Legacy partner/coverage/pricing disclosures, publishing channels, timing and cost ranges with explicit source boundaries (no fabricated national obituary-percent or average-delay statistics). Article + FAQPage + BreadcrumbList. `/obituary-statistics` 301 redirects here. |
| /guides/how-to-find-an-obituary | **Pillar hub:** comparison table routes obituary search scenarios (online, no location, no date, funeral homes, recency, where published, notice vs obituary, alerts) to tactical guides |
| /guides/how-to-find-an-obituary-online | **Tactical merged guide:** Google, funeral homes, aggregators, missing location/date, common names, why searches fail, monitoring. 301 from `/how-to-find-someones-obituary-online`, `/how-to-search-obituaries-by-name`, `/how-to-find-an-obituary-by-name-without-location`, `/how-to-find-an-obituary-without-the-date-of-death` |
| /guides/best-obituary-websites | Aggregators vs funeral homes vs newspapers; tradeoffs (no single “best” for every case) |
| /guides/how-to-search-legacy-com-for-obituaries | Legacy.com filters, partner coverage gaps, cross-checks |
| /guides/how-to-find-old-obituaries-online | Archives, libraries, genealogy vs recent search |
| /guides/how-to-find-burial-information | Cemetery and interment clues from notices and memorial databases |
| /guides/how-to-find-funeral-service-information | Visitation/service details from funeral home sites and notices |
| /guides/where-to-find-death-notices | Short paid notices vs long obituaries; newspapers, homes, aggregators |
| /guides/how-to-find-recent-obituaries | Sorting and source order for newest listings (pairs with last-24-hours guide) |
| /guides/where-obituaries-are-published | Every source type: funeral homes, newspapers, aggregators, social media |
| /guides/how-long-after-death-is-an-obituary-posted | **Pillar:** full timeline (how soon, how often to check, funeral-home & newspaper delays, weekends/holidays, regional differences, empty-search reasons); `/guides/how-often-obituaries-are-posted` and `/guides/how-soon-obituary-posted` 301 here |
| /guides/how-to-find-an-obituary-from-a-funeral-home | Funeral-home-first obituary search workflow |
| /guides/how-to-search-funeral-home-obituaries | Structured source-by-source funeral home search process |
| /guides/do-all-funeral-homes-publish-obituaries | Coverage reality: why publication is broad but uneven |
| /guides/funeral-home-obituaries-vs-newspaper-obituaries | Primary vs secondary channel comparison |
| /guides/why-some-obituaries-are-not-published-in-newspapers | Why newspaper-only searches miss notices |
| /guides/how-many-funeral-homes-publish-obituaries-online | Data-oriented funeral-home coverage perspective |
| /guides/how-often-funeral-homes-update-obituaries | Publication cadence and detection timing guidance |
| /guides/how-funeral-homes-publish-obituaries | Full pipeline: family meeting → obituary writing → website publication → Legacy.com syndication |
| /guides/how-long-obituaries-stay-online | Retention by source: funeral homes (variable), Legacy.com (permanent), newspapers (varies) |
| /guides/automated-obituary-monitoring | Technology: source ingestion, parsing, fuzzy matching, alert delivery |
| /guides/obituary-monitoring-and-alerts | **Pillar:** what monitoring is, why manual search fails (links discovery guide), how alerts work, email vs full monitoring, nationwide vs local, setup; `/guides/how-to-set-up-obituary-alerts`, `/guides/obituary-alerts-by-email`, `/guides/how-to-monitor-obituaries-for-a-specific-person`, `/guides/monitor-obituary-notices-nationwide` 301 here |
| /guides/best-way-to-track-obituaries | Supporting cluster: manual vs automated tracking, coverage & matching; mid-article funnel to pillar + /start-monitoring |
| /guides/how-to-get-notified-when-someone-dies | Supporting cluster: email alerts, Google vs monitoring; funnels to pillar |
| /guides/how-to-track-obituaries-online | Tracking methods compared |
| /guides/how-to-track-obituaries-for-family-history | Genealogy use — FamilySearch, Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank, surname tracking |
| /guides/how-to-find-recent-obituaries-last-24-hours | Why recently published obituaries are hard to find, fastest manual and automated methods, publication delays by source type, and how automated monitoring eliminates the search entirely |

#### Death Verification

| URL | Topic |
|-----|-------|
| /guides/how-to-find-out-if-someone-died | **Pillar hub:** routes “did someone die?” (online check, recent obits, records, funeral homes, public record meaning, no obituary, timing, alerts) |
| /guides/how-to-check-if-someone-died-online | What web search can and cannot prove vs certified records |
| /guides/are-obituaries-public-record | Obituaries vs death certificates vs colloquial “public record” |
| /guides/difference-between-obituary-and-death-notice | Paid notice vs long tribute; search terminology |
| /guides/what-happens-if-someone-dies-and-there-is-no-obituary | When no public notice exists; verification pivots |
| /guides/how-to-find-out-if-someone-died-in-another-state | Multi-state vital records and search order |
| /guides/how-to-confirm-someone-died | Informal vs legal-grade proof |
| /guides/how-are-deaths-reported | Vital registration vs optional obituaries (U.S. overview) |
| /guides/is-there-a-database-of-deaths | Why no single national public death list exists |
| /guides/how-to-know-if-someone-died-without-an-obituary | Indexes, records, contacts when no obituary |
| /guides/how-to-find-death-records-online | Complete guide: obituaries (Legacy.com, Echovita, Google), SSDI (FamilySearch), state death record indexes, certified death certificates (VitalChek), probate records, free genealogy DBs (FamilySearch, Find A Grave, Chronicling America), paid DBs (Ancestry, Newspapers.com, GenealogyBank); search strategy by use case |
| /guides/how-to-find-out-if-someone-has-died | Free step-by-step guide for anyone: Legacy.com, SSDI, probate records, Find A Grave, uncertain cases |
| /guides/how-to-verify-if-someone-is-deceased | Professional verification workflow: obituary databases, SSDI, government records, monitoring setup |
| /guides/how-investigators-confirm-death | PI methods: death records vs. obituaries, funeral home announcements, common name handling, automated monitoring |
| /guides/how-to-find-someones-death-record | Death certificate vs. obituary, state vital records, SSDI, historical databases, access restrictions |
| /guides/death-record-search-guide | Free and paid databases: SSDI (FamilySearch), state indexes, Find A Grave, probate records, Ancestry, Newspapers.com |
| /guides/obituary-monitoring-vs-ssdmf | SSDMF lags 3–6 months; obituary monitoring detects deaths in 24–48 hours; combined strategy explained |
| /guides/how-to-know-if-someone-died | Overview of death verification options and when each applies |
| /guides/how-to-find-an-obituary-by-name-without-location | Legacy URL: 301 redirect to `/guides/how-to-find-an-obituary-online` (not a separate guide) |

#### Industry Workflows

| URL | Topic |
|-----|-------|
| /guides/how-to-handle-deceased-debtor-accounts | FDCPA compliance steps when a debtor dies: cease activity, document timestamp, estate claim transition, probate search |
| /guides/probate-claims-for-creditors | State-by-state creditor claim windows (TX 4mo, FL 3mo, CA 4mo, NY 7mo, IL 6mo, GA 3mo); filing workflow |
| /guides/skip-tracing-deceased-subjects | Signs of death in skip trace data, obituary verification before field deployment, automated monitoring for caseloads |
| /guides/probate-attorneys-obituary-search | Creditor due diligence, heir identification, documentation, compliance workflows for probate practitioners |
| /guides/verify-death-debt-collection | FDCPA-compliant death verification methods, documentation requirements, portfolio monitoring |
| /guides/estate-administration-notification-timeline | When to start monitoring, how long to run it, court documentation requirements |
| /guides/bulk-obituary-monitoring | Portfolio-scale monitoring workflow for teams |
| /guides/monitor-multiple-names-for-obituaries | Multi-name setup and triage workflow |
| /guides/death-monitoring-for-law-firms | Law-firm case-linked monitoring operations |
| /guides/death-monitoring-for-debt-collection | Deceased-debtor portfolio monitoring operations |
| /guides/obituary-monitoring-api | API integration workflow: list sync, events, audit logs |
| /guides/automated-death-checks-for-client-lists | Automated recurring checks for large client lists |
| /guides/portfolio-death-monitoring | Governance + KPI framework for monitoring programs |

#### Legal & Compliance

| URL | Topic |
|-----|-------|
| /guides/reasonable-diligence-creditor-notices | Satisfying the "reasonably diligent" standard with automated monitoring and court-ready documentation |
| /guides/digital-gap-newspaper-creditor-notices | Why newspaper-only creditor notices fail modern probate diligence standards |
| /guides/florida-probate-diligence-requirement | Florida F.S. 733.2121 — 3-month claim window, known creditor identification, audit log documentation |
| /guides/ai-monitoring-reduces-fiduciary-liability | How AI obituary monitoring reduces fiduciary liability with documented search records |
| /guides/what-is-obituary-monitor | Service overview — what it is, how it works, who uses it |
| /guides/negative-obituary-search-certificate | Court-ready negative search certificate format |
| /guides/how-to-document-obituary-search-for-court | Court-focused obituary search documentation checklist |
| /guides/proof-of-death-search-for-probate | Proof-of-death workflow for probate case operations |
| /guides/reasonable-diligence-search-for-deceased-person | Repeatable diligence framework for legal teams |
| /guides/court-ready-death-verification | Court-ready verification workflow and audit packet model |
| /guides/texas-probate-diligence-requirement | Texas state legal workflow page |
| /guides/california-probate-creditor-notice-requirements | California creditor notice workflow page |
| /guides/new-york-probate-notice-to-creditors | New York notice-to-creditors workflow page |
| /guides/florida-probate-creditor-notice-requirements | Florida creditor notice workflow page |
| /guides/georgia-probate-death-notice-requirement | Georgia death-notice workflow page |
| /guides/illinois-probate-creditor-claim-deadlines | Illinois claim-deadline workflow page |
| /probate-by-state | Hub page linking state probate workflow guides |

### Help, Support & Legal

| URL | Purpose |
|-----|---------|
| /help | Knowledge base |
| /support | Contact support |
| /docs/api | API documentation (verify endpoint, developer reference) |
| /death-verification-api | B2B API access request landing page; lead capture and demo CTAs |
| /death-by-county-feed-api | B2B obituary data API landing page; daily county feeds + record enrichment; Death Data Coverage by State hub; lead capture |
| /county-death-feed/{state} | State death data & Obituary API landings (50 states + DC); full set in sitemap + hub `#coverage-by-state` |
| /pricing/professional | Professional / team pricing (legacy `/enterprise` redirects here) |
| /security | Security practices |
| /compliance | Compliance documentation |
| /terms | Terms of service |
| /privacy | Privacy policy |
| /legal-disclaimer | Legal disclaimers |

### Application (Authenticated)

| URL | Function |
|-----|----------|
| /app/watches | Manage watchlist |
| /app/watches/new | Add new watch |
| /app/matches | Review obituary matches |
| /app/cases | Case management |
| /app/team | Team members |
| /app/account | Account settings |
| /app/subscription | Billing and subscription |
| /app/how-matching-works | In-app matching explanation |

---

## Integrations

ObituaryMonitor integrates natively with leading legal practice management platforms:

### Clio Manage
- Bidirectional: import contacts and matters from Clio
- Export enriched death-audit data back to Clio
- Auto-detect matter formats during import
- Keeps Clio as the single source of truth

### MyCase
- Import contacts and case data
- Sync monitoring status back to matters
- Alert delivery within case context

### PracticePanther
- Connect contacts for automated monitoring
- Export audit data to matters

### Rocket Matter
- Sync contacts and matters
- Monitor at the matter level

All integrations support bulk import via CSV as a fallback.

---

## Compliance & Legal Use Cases

### Texas Estates Code § 308.051
- Requires publication within 1 month of receiving letters testamentary
- "Reasonably diligent" standard for creditor identification
- ObituaryMonitor generates a Certificate of Diligence and time-stamped audit log documenting search scope and results
- The /probate/texas page covers this in full

### Florida F.S. 733.2121
- Requires publication and direct mail notice to known creditors
- 3-month creditor claim window
- ObituaryMonitor's audit logs satisfy the known-creditor identification documentation requirement
- The /probate/florida and /guides/florida-probate-diligence-requirement pages cover this

### FDCPA (Debt Collection)
- Requires ceasing collection activity upon learning of a debtor's death
- ObituaryMonitor provides early death detection with documented timestamps
- See /for-debt-collectors and /guides/verify-death-debt-collection

---

## Technical Architecture

### Product Type
- **Category**: SaaS (Software as a Service)
- **Delivery**: Web browser, no installation required
- **Billing**: Monthly subscription (recurring)
- **Schema.org type**: SoftwareApplication + WebApplication, applicationSubCategory: SaaS

### Frontend
- Framework: Next.js with React and TypeScript
- Styling: Tailwind CSS
- UI Components: shadcn/ui
- State: React hooks + SWR

### Backend
- API: Next.js API routes (serverless functions)
- Database: PostgreSQL (Neon serverless)
- Auth: Custom JWT-based authentication
- Queue: QStash for background jobs and sweep scheduling

### Infrastructure
- Hosting: Netlify (serverless functions + edge)
- CDN: Netlify Edge
- Database: Neon PostgreSQL
- File Storage: Cloudflare R2

### Third-Party Services
- Payments: Stripe (subscription billing)
- Email: Resend
- Obituary Search: Custom scrapers + AI extraction providers (Serper, ScrapingBee, Scrapfly)
- PDF Generation: jsPDF with screenshot capture

---

## Key Terminology

| Term | Definition |
|------|------------|
| Watch | A person being monitored for obituary publication |
| Match | An obituary that corresponds to a watched person |
| Confidence Score | Percentage (0–100%) indicating match accuracy |
| High-Confidence Match | Match with 90%+ confidence score |
| Forensic Name-Matching | Fuzzy logic engine catching aliases, nicknames, and spelling variations |
| Certificate of Diligence | Formatted compliance certificate documenting automated search scope and result |
| Audit Log | Time-stamped record of all monitoring activity for legal documentation |
| Negative Search Certificate | Documentation that a thorough search found no matching obituary |
| Due Diligence | Legal standard requiring reasonable effort to identify deaths/creditors |
| Sweep | Periodic automated scan across all monitored obituary sources |
| Extraction | Process of parsing obituary content from web pages |
| Source | Any website or feed monitored for new obituary publications |

---

## Contact Information

- **Website**: https://obituarymonitor.com
- **Support Email**: support@obituarymonitor.com
- **Enterprise Sales**: enterprise@obituarymonitor.com
- **API Documentation**: https://obituarymonitor.com/docs/api
- **Death Verification API (access request)**: https://obituarymonitor.com/death-verification-api
- **Obituary Data API / County workflows (access request)**: https://obituarymonitor.com/death-by-county-feed-api
- **State County Feed geo landings**: https://obituarymonitor.com/county-death-feed/{state}/ (50 states + DC; directory at https://obituarymonitor.com/death-by-county-feed-api#coverage-by-state)
- **Sitemap**: https://obituarymonitor.com/sitemap.xml
- **LLMs.txt**: https://obituarymonitor.com/llms.txt
- **LLMs-full.txt**: https://obituarymonitor.com/llms-full.txt

---

*Last Updated: August 12, 2026 — Documented national County Feed geo landings `/county-death-feed/{state}/` (50 states + DC) and hub `#coverage-by-state`; listed in sitemap. Prior: July 9, 2026 `/death-by-county-feed-api`; June 10, 2026 `/death-verification-api`; April 5, 2026 guide-cluster hubs.*