Are death certificates only available county-by-county or is there a national list somewhere? Is the data available in real-time or close to it? If not, how much of a delay is there?
On the flip side, is there any national certificate of residence or similar that proves that I live where I say I live?
e.g. if a trust fund pays Mr. Jones $5,000 per month, how do they know if he's still around?
I'm not trying to start a scam - I'm trying to understand how to prevent one.
My Mom's death certificate was apparently recorded by the state, not the county ("Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics").
I doubt there is a national list.
My Mom died on 6/6/16 and her certificate was issued on 6/9/16. Interestingly, on the website it states "Death, stillbirth/miscarriage, marriage, and divorce certificates are legally confidential in Idaho for 50 years." So you might not be able to find out by asking my state.
If you have a legitimate need and have the person's SSN, you might be able to find out via the SSA.
Proving one's address is usually done with a couple of utility bills in your name, so it's not a high bar. There is no national database that the government maintains. People can move around as often as they want.
If a trust fund is paying someone, they could do so by check. If the signature on the check doesn't match the person's known signature, then that is how they might know. Or if the pattern of check cashing changes - for example, several checks in a row go uncashed, when normally they are cashed promptly. If the trust fund is using direct deposit, then they would know if the direct deposit is rejected by the ACH system by the receiving bank because the account has been closed.
Most of the ways that a regular death would be scammed involve violating laws in some fashion, usually fraud. Many people are honest, and the ones that aren't can also be caught by banks or family members who are watching what's going on and will notice something amiss.
