subject: The Freedom Of Information Act And Judgment Debtors [print this page] One way that debtors avoid repaying a judgment is by dying. When a debtor dies, it's often game over for the majority of judgment owners. However, certain judgment creditors either check the late judgment debtor's estate situation. Depending on what they find out, some creditors may attempt to recover some money for their judgment by sending in a creditor's. For judgment owners, there is only a short time after the debtor's passing, to file a claim on the debtor's estate.
The reason one should verify if your judgment debtor has left the earth, is so that you can file a timely claim, to include your judgment debt in the judgment debtor's estate. If you're polite and respectful, sometimes their family will settle or pay a deceased judgment debtor's debt, sometimes even when an official claim has not been filed. My articles are my opinions and are not, legal advice. I am a judgment referral expert, and not an attorney. When you ever want legal advice or a strategy to use, you should contact an attorney.
A way to learn about the death of your judgment debtor is to use the Social Security Death Index (SSDI). The SSDI has a Death Master File, that is a list of all people who get included in the list of who died, to the Social Security Administration. This list is not guaranteed or perfect, however it's usually accurate. Generally, the younger your judgment debtor or person of interest was, the more specific the SSDI can be.
Complete access to the SSDI is not free. The Social Security Administration doesn't allow their Death Master File information available directly on the web. Yet, their records are usually available on genealogy websites; search for "SSDI" or "Social Security Death Index". Sites like www.ancestry.com, www.familysearch.org, and others; permit one to access and search some historical death records for free. The most useful data levels often cost money.
The SSDI data has the deceased individual's year of death, given (first) name, surname (last name), and middle initial. Very old SSDI records have just their year of death, old records have the month and year. The more recent the death, the more chance there will be exact and detailed dates of death and birth, including a zip code. Note that when you don't see a dead person listed in the SSDI, it does not mean the person is still living, or that the Social Security Administration (SSA) hasn't records on a dead person.
On publicly accessible web sites, SSNs are now restricted. One can search with your debtor's complete social security number, however the full SSN is never shown on (legal) public web sites. Paid professional databases, available to people having permissible purpose to subscribe to, might permit their customers to see the full SSN.
Once a person passes away, their right to privacy fade fast, because of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). By making dead individual's SSNs available, much fraud is prevented. To get a copy of a dead individual's SS info, one must pay, and send a copy of the dead person's death certificate.
When you know a judgment debtor has died, search on the www for "Form SSA-711" to find an application and pay for a copy of the SS card of a dead person, or a "computer extract" (that seems only a slightly more useful option). This will likely show their place of birth, father's name, and mother's full maiden name. Another way to go is to search for form "SS-5", to get an application form for copy of a dead person's social security card.
