How to Find Death Records Free

You can search most U.S. death records for free. FamilySearch.org hosts free statewide death indexes (many with certificate images), the Social Security Death Index pins down death dates from 1962 onward, Find a Grave covers burials, and several states publish their own free death indexes online. The certified paper certificate costs a fee from the state — but the information on it is very often free.

This guide shows you where to look based on when and where the person died, plus the workarounds for states that lock their records. Death records name parents, spouses, and informants — so as you collect them, keep the free family relationship calculator open to translate each new name into an exact relationship.

Understand what you're searching for

"Death records" covers several different documents, and knowing which is which saves hours:

• Death certificate: the official civil record, filed with the state or county. Modern certificates name the parents (with the mother's maiden name), the spouse, the informant, the cause of death, and the burial place.
• Death index: the searchable list of certificates — name, date, place, certificate number. Indexes are usually free even when certificates cost money.
• SSDI: the Social Security Death Index, a federal index of deaths reported to Social Security, strong from 1962 onward.
• Substitutes: obituaries, cemetery and burial records, church burial registers, probate files, and coroner records. Before statewide registration, these substitutes are the death records.

Statewide death registration started at different times — Massachusetts in 1841, but many Southern and Western states not until 1900–1920. Before your state's start date, go straight to the substitutes.

Start with the SSDI for deaths after 1962

The Social Security Death Index is the fastest free tool for 20th-century deaths. Search it free on FamilySearch: enter the name and approximate birth year, and the index returns the birth date, the month and year of death, and the last residence ZIP code. That death month turns an impossible newspaper search into a five-minute one.

Two caveats: the public SSDI essentially stops in early 2014 (a federal law now embargoes recent deaths for three years, and the free copies were frozen), and people who never had Social Security — children, some homemakers, pre-1937 deaths — aren't in it. Our full SSDI search guide covers the workarounds.

FamilySearch: free death indexes and certificate images

FamilySearch.org (free, free account, never a payment) is the biggest free source of actual death records:

1. Go to Search → Records and enter the name, a death year range, and the state.
2. Filter the results by record type: "Death, Burial, Cemetery & Obituaries."
3. Open each hit — many state collections include a photographed certificate image, not just the index line.

Coverage is uneven but deep: collections like Texas deaths (1890–1976), Ohio deaths (1908–1953), and dozens more include free images of the original certificates. Where images are gated to view at a FamilySearch center, the index entry still gives you the date, place, and parents' names.

State death indexes you can search free

Several states publish their own free indexes, and these often beat the big sites for completeness:

If your state isn't listed, search "[state] death index" plus "free" — state archives quietly publish these all the time, and new years are added as privacy embargoes expire.

The substitutes: graves, obituaries, and probate

When no certificate exists — or you can't reach it — three substitute records do the same job:

• Cemetery and burial records. A headstone gives the death year (sometimes the exact date), and burial registers name the plot owner — often a relative. Search Find a Grave and BillionGraves free; our free cemetery records guide walks through both.
• Obituaries. The richest substitute: an obituary can name the spouse, parents, every surviving child with married names, and the funeral home. See how to search obituaries free.
• Probate files. A will admitted to probate proves a death within a narrow window and lists heirs with their relationships spelled out — "to my beloved granddaughter Eliza." Probate records are heavily digitized free on FamilySearch.

One more early tool: the federal census mortality schedules of 1850–1880 listed everyone who died in the twelve months before census day, with cause of death. They're free to search and cover an era when almost no state kept death certificates.

Recent deaths: what's free and what isn't

For deaths in the last couple of decades, privacy rules tighten. Most states restrict certified death certificates to close relatives for 25–50 years. Your free options:

• Obituaries and funeral-home notices — nearly universal for recent deaths and free to search on Legacy.com and Google.
• Find a Grave — memorials are usually created within days of a burial.
• State index releases — indexes become public on a rolling schedule as embargo years expire.

If you truly need the certificate itself — for a lineage society application or an estate matter — order it from the state vital records office or the county clerk. Fees typically run $10–$30. That's the one step in this process that legitimately costs money.

Read a death record like a genealogist

A death certificate is really three records in one: a death fact, a birth fact, and a family snapshot. Work through it systematically:

1. The informant — the person who reported the details. Their name and relationship ("daughter-in-law") is direct evidence of family structure. Translate odd relationship terms with the free CousinChart calculator.
2. Parents' names and birthplaces — your bridge back a generation, including the mother's maiden name. Verify them; grieving informants guessed wrong constantly.
3. Burial place and funeral home — your next two record sources.
4. Cause of death — old medical terms ("dropsy," "consumption") are worth decoding for family health history.

Treat the death facts (date, place) as reliable and the birth facts (date, parents) as hearsay to confirm against a birth record.

FAQ

Is there a completely free death records search?

Yes — FamilySearch is free and holds death indexes and certificate images for much of the U.S., the SSDI is free to search there too, and Find a Grave and obituary archives are free. Only the certified paper certificate itself requires a state fee.

How do I find a death date if I know nothing?

Bracket it with the census: the last census the person appears in and the first one they're missing from give you a ten-year window. Then run the SSDI (post-1962) or the state death index for that window.

Are death certificates public record?

Eventually. Most states treat recent certificates (commonly 25–50 years) as restricted, then open them. Indexes usually become public sooner than images, which is why so much free searching is index-first.

What did death records look like before 1900?

In most states, there were no certificates. Look instead for county death registers, church burial records, cemetery records, mortality schedules (1850–1880), obituaries, and probate files — most of which are free on FamilySearch.

Can I see the actual death certificate image for free?

Very often, yes. State collections on FamilySearch — Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, West Virginia, and more — include photographed certificates at no cost. Some image sets require viewing from a free FamilySearch center.

How do I figure out how the informant on a certificate is related to me?

Trace the stated relationship to the deceased ("nephew of the deceased"), then chain it to yourself and enter the path in the free relationship calculator at CousinChart — it returns the exact term instantly.

One death record opens three doors

Every death record points somewhere: backward to the parents, sideways to the informant and survivors, and forward to the cemetery and the probate court. Follow all three, and use the free CousinChart relationship calculator whenever a record hands you a relationship to untangle. Then keep going — the birth records and obituary guides pick up exactly where this one leaves off.