Add the subject at intake
Name plus city, state, or birth year, with your case reference. Do it before anyone is scheduled for the field.
Solutions · Investigators & skip tracers
Find out if your subject has died, before the field visit.
Check subjects against 17,565+ funeral-home and newspaper obituary sources. Each match comes with the obituary link for your case file, the family it names for your next step, and ongoing watches for files that stay open.
✓Test keys on request✓Obituary link on every match✓Custom pricing
POST/api/v1/verifyFictional subject. Your case reference comes back with the result.
{
"client_ref": "CASE-3391",
"result": "found",
"confidence_band": "high",
"match": {
"full_name": "Raymond L. Petrakis",
"death_date": "2026-08-14",
"location": "Toledo, OH",
"source_url": "https://example.com/obituaries/raymond-petrakis"
}
}In short
How do investigators confirm a subject has died without a death certificate?
Most start with the obituary. A published obituary usually appears within days, states where the person lived, and names the surviving family, which is enough to tie it to your subject and decide the next step. ObituaryMonitor checks a subject's name plus a location or birth year against funeral-home and newspaper obituaries and returns found, possible_match, or not_found with a confidence band and the source link. It supports your review; it is not a death certificate.
| Input | First and last name plus city, county, state, or birth year, and your case reference |
|---|---|
| Output | found / possible_match / not_found, confidence band, obituary source link |
| Sources | 17,565+ funeral-home and newspaper obituary sources |
| Next steps | Family Extraction: relatives named in the obituary, with relationship and location where stated |
| Not included | Phone numbers, emails, addresses, or other skip-trace contact data |
The cost of finding out late
What it costs to learn about a death late.
Field work on a subject who is gone
Surveillance hours, mileage, and database pulls spent locating someone whose obituary was already online. The client still gets a bill and no usable result.
A knock on a grieving family's door
Attempting service or an interview at a house in the middle of a funeral week is the kind of contact that turns into a complaint and costs you the referral.
Cold files that miss the news
When a case pauses for budget or goes cold, nobody is re-checking. A regional obituary posted months later sits unread until the client asks why the file never moved.
What changes
What changes on your case files.
Clear subjects before you deploy
Run the subject before surveillance, a field visit, or an attempt at service. A found result with a high confidence band lets you stop or redirect the file before the hours are spent.
A source to put in the report
Every match carries the obituary link, so you can show the client exactly why the subject was marked deceased instead of reporting that they could not be located.
Family named in the obituary, for your next step
Family Extraction lists the relatives named in a matched obituary, with relationship and location where stated. On estate, heir, and asset files, that is often the next set of people to research.
Open files watched without re-searching
Register a subject once and we notify your system by signed webhook if a matching obituary appears later, whether the file is active, paused, or waiting on a client.
Whole caseloads in one pass
Batch up to 50 subjects per call, or send async jobs up to 5,000 rows. Your case reference rides along with each row so results land back on the right file.
Common names sorted for review
Results with a confidence band and possible_match status tell you which hits to accept and which need a closer look at location, age, and family before you act.
Which product
Three ways investigators use it.
Verification API
Check a subject or a caseload
Send a name and a location or birth year with your case reference. Get found, possible_match, or not_found with a confidence band and the obituary link. Batch 50, or async jobs up to 5,000 rows.
Ongoing watches
Watch open files
Register a subject once. If a matching obituary is published later, we notify your system by signed webhook, so dormant and paused cases still surface news.
Family Extraction
See who the obituary names
Through sales: the relatives named in a matching obituary, with relationship and location where stated. A starting point for your next step, not contact data or legal heir findings.
Workflow
From case intake to next step.
We check our sources
Funeral-home websites and newspaper obituary sections, matched on name, location, and birth year where given.
Review the match
Read the obituary at its source. Confirm location, age, and named family against what is in your file.
Close, redirect, or follow the family
Close or reassign the file, note the source in your report, or move to the relatives named in the obituary. Leave a watch on anything still open.
Documented search
What counts as a documented death search for a client or court?
Clients and attorneys rarely accept "we could not find them" on its own. A defensible file shows what was checked, when, and what was found. When a subject has died, the strongest working evidence short of a certified record is a published obituary that matches on name, location, and age and names family you can tie back to the subject.
Government death files are useful but are not built for active casework. Access is restricted, there is no source document to show a client, and recent deaths can take time to appear. Obituaries are often published within days, link to a page anyone can read, and name the people closest to the subject. Many investigators use both.
Keep the limits straight in the report. A not_found means no matching obituary was found in our sources; it is not proof the subject is alive, since some deaths never get an obituary. Relatives named in an obituary are starting points for further research, not a legal determination of heirs. Where a court or agency requires a death certificate, obtain one from the vital records office.
For a one-time file, such as an inherited caseload or an estate heir list, a Screening Report returns results with source links as CSV plus a PDF report, an audit log, and Negative Search Certificates documenting names where no matching obituary was found.
- Record the date of the check and the inputs used (name, location, birth year)
- Save the obituary source link and note how it matches your subject
- Treat possible_match as unconfirmed until location, age, and family line up
- Record not_found as no obituary found, not as confirmation of life
- Leave a watch on files that stay open so a later obituary is not missed
Fits your systems
Where results land in your work.
Your case management system
Call the API at intake and write the result, confidence band, and obituary link to the subject record. Your client_ref keeps every result tied to the right case.
Your alert queue
Watches post to your endpoint by signed webhook when a match appears, so an investigator or supervisor can review it the same day instead of on the next manual sweep.
The client report
Attach the obituary link and the check date to the file. For one-time lists, Screening Reports add a PDF report and audit log you can hand to the client.
Plainly
What you get, and what you do not.
It is
- Obituary evidence with a source link for the case file
- A confidence band to separate clear matches from ones that need review
- The family named in the obituary, for your next step
- Ongoing watches on subjects in open, paused, or cold files
It is not
- A consumer report. Not for FCRA-regulated decisions such as eligibility
- Phone, email, address, or other skip-trace contact data
- A legal heir determination or an official death certificate
- Proof that a subject is alive when no obituary is found
FAQ
Questions investigators ask.
Can I confirm a subject died without a death certificate?
You can document strong evidence of it. A matching obituary with the subject's location, age, and named family is what most investigators use to close or redirect a file. It is not a death certificate; if a court or agency needs one, request it from vital records.
Can I use the family named in the obituary for my next step?
Yes. Family Extraction, available through sales, lists the relatives named in a matched obituary with relationship and location where stated. They are a starting point for your next step, not a legal determination of heirs or next of kin.
Do you provide phone numbers or addresses for relatives?
No. We return obituary evidence and the people it names. We do not supply phone numbers, emails, addresses, or other skip-trace contact data; use your existing locate tools for that step.
How do I document the search for a client or court?
Save the check date, the inputs you sent, the result, and the obituary source link with the file. For a one-time list, a Screening Report adds a PDF report, an audit log, and Negative Search Certificates for names with no matching obituary.
How do you handle common names?
Send a location or birth year with the name. Each result has a confidence band, and uncertain hits come back as possible_match so you can compare location, age, and named family before acting.
What if no obituary is ever published?
Then the result is not_found, which means no matching obituary in our sources. It is not proof the subject is alive. Some deaths never get an obituary, so keep a watch on open files and check other records where the case requires it.
Can I watch subjects on files that are paused or cold?
Yes. Register a subject once and we notify your system by signed webhook if a matching obituary appears later. The watch keeps running while the file is inactive.
Can results be used for FCRA-regulated decisions?
No. ObituaryMonitor is not a consumer reporting agency, and results must not be used for FCRA-regulated decisions such as eligibility for credit, insurance, employment, or housing.