How to Know if Someone Has Passed Away
How to Know if Someone Has Passed Away GA S REGULAR Menu Lifewire Tech for Humans Newsletter! Search Close GO Internet, Networking, & Security > Around the Web
Read through online obituaries. A report covering the death is the first place you should look to see if someone has passed away. There are websites for both recent obituaries and historical ones. An online obituary finder may be more useful in big cities. A small town might not post the obituary online, in which case you should check the local newspaper or the website for the mortuary. Legacy.com. Social media should be your next choice. If you can find a social media account for the deceased person, you'll likely find their friends and family posting sentiments and memories. Learn how to find people on Facebook for some examples. Visit the website of a local place of worship. If you happen to know the church, synagogue, or other place of worships where a funeral may have been held, then its website might have posted a blurb or entire obituary on the person. If you're not sure about the specific place of worship, try looking for website links to institutions in the area where you know the person is from or where they died. Do a general search on a search engine. Type the person's name followed by obituary and/or death. Be sure to include any other relevant information you can, such as a family member's name, the location where they lived or died, their occupation, your guess on their cause of death, etc. Here's an example: "john smith" death accident "las vegas" "wife mary" When you're including multiple words as part of a phrase, such as a name or location, be sure to surround them in quotes. If the person you're looking for is a celebrity but a general search wasn't helpful, search directly on Wikipedia or IMDb. These are the best websites for seeing if a celebrity has died because they're updated quickly. Check local news websites. It's common for deaths to be reported in the news, but you might have luck only if it was an "out of the ordinary" death, which might include everything from a car accident to a murder or the death of someone really young. This method for seeing if someone has died can help when coupled with the other techniques on this page. News stations are usually not allowed to post the deceased's name, but a location and general date/time are often given. Locate the person's grave site to confirm whether they've passed away. This shouldn't be your first pick because a grave site isn't typically updated as soon as an obituary is posted, but they're still helpful and especially useful for deaths that you've suspected happened a long time ago. Find A Grave. See if they're on a free genealogy website. You'll be able to view their death date if they're included in a family tree that's been updated since they died. Use a people finder search engine to see if he or she died. This method is the least helpful since these websites don't usually focus on death, but they might show the person's death date along with information they do normally keep, like the birth date, phone number, address, etc. Catherine Song / Lifewire
How to Know if Someone Has Passed Away
Use the web to see if and when someone died
By Tim Fisher Tim Fisher Senior Vice President & Group General Manager, Tech & Sustainability Emporia State University Tim Fisher has more than 30 years' of professional technology experience. He's been writing about tech for more than two decades and serves as the VP and General Manager of Lifewire. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 4, 2022 Reviewed by Christine Baker Reviewed by Christine Baker Christine Baker is a marketing consultant with experience working for a variety of clients. Her expertise includes social media, web development, and graphic design. lifewire's editorial guidelines Tweet Share Email Tweet Share EmailIn This Article
Expand Jump to a Section How to Find Out if Someone Has Died Can You Find Out How Someone Died The Answers May Be Difficult to Locate Frequently Asked QuestionsWhat to Know
Check online obituaries, social media, search engines, or the website of the place of worship.Consult genealogy websites. You'll be able to view their death date if they're included in an updated family tree.Use a people finder search engine. It may display the person's death date along with basic biographical information. Finding out if someone has died can be difficult in more ways than one. You can utilize a number of online websites to see if and when someone passed away.How to Find Out if Someone Has Died
Discovering whether someone is deceased is relatively easy because there are usually public announcements posted on obituaries and websites. However, what you likely won't find for most people is how the person died—that information is usually only circulated by word of mouth.Read through online obituaries. A report covering the death is the first place you should look to see if someone has passed away. There are websites for both recent obituaries and historical ones. An online obituary finder may be more useful in big cities. A small town might not post the obituary online, in which case you should check the local newspaper or the website for the mortuary. Legacy.com. Social media should be your next choice. If you can find a social media account for the deceased person, you'll likely find their friends and family posting sentiments and memories. Learn how to find people on Facebook for some examples. Visit the website of a local place of worship. If you happen to know the church, synagogue, or other place of worships where a funeral may have been held, then its website might have posted a blurb or entire obituary on the person. If you're not sure about the specific place of worship, try looking for website links to institutions in the area where you know the person is from or where they died. Do a general search on a search engine. Type the person's name followed by obituary and/or death. Be sure to include any other relevant information you can, such as a family member's name, the location where they lived or died, their occupation, your guess on their cause of death, etc. Here's an example: "john smith" death accident "las vegas" "wife mary" When you're including multiple words as part of a phrase, such as a name or location, be sure to surround them in quotes. If the person you're looking for is a celebrity but a general search wasn't helpful, search directly on Wikipedia or IMDb. These are the best websites for seeing if a celebrity has died because they're updated quickly. Check local news websites. It's common for deaths to be reported in the news, but you might have luck only if it was an "out of the ordinary" death, which might include everything from a car accident to a murder or the death of someone really young. This method for seeing if someone has died can help when coupled with the other techniques on this page. News stations are usually not allowed to post the deceased's name, but a location and general date/time are often given. Locate the person's grave site to confirm whether they've passed away. This shouldn't be your first pick because a grave site isn't typically updated as soon as an obituary is posted, but they're still helpful and especially useful for deaths that you've suspected happened a long time ago. Find A Grave. See if they're on a free genealogy website. You'll be able to view their death date if they're included in a family tree that's been updated since they died. Use a people finder search engine to see if he or she died. This method is the least helpful since these websites don't usually focus on death, but they might show the person's death date along with information they do normally keep, like the birth date, phone number, address, etc. Catherine Song / Lifewire