How to Access Social Security Death Records

Social security death records can be accessed online by looking through the social security death index (SSDI). Social security death records can be used to do family or genealogy research and to obtain general information about people. Keep reading to see how you can access social security death records.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. 
    

   The social security administration doesn't make their social security death index (SSDI) available for public access, but there are a number of commercial sites that usually allow you to do a free search through the records they have compiled from the social security administration.

2. 
    

   One of the best websites out there is http://ssdi.rootsweb.ancestry.com/. They have over 83 million social security death records in their database, and it is very current. It is also free to do a general search, and they only charge if you want to order a detailed report. All you have to do is go there and type in someone's name and click search. It will help a lot if you know the person's middle name as well.

3. 
    

   Another good website to check is worldvitalrecords.com. It isn't quite as good as ancestry.com but many times you will find that one database will have a few things that the other does not, so its worth a shot to check there as well, and it doesn't cost anything for the simple search either.

4. 
    

   If you haven't had any luck on either of these websites you can visit your local library and talk to a research librarian, because they are experts in doing research and often help people with genealogy searches. They know databases like the back of their hand too, so if you are having a hard time they are an excellent person to talk to.