Announcing Death Master File Search

Users can now use POST /dmf/searches to initiate a search against the Social Security Administration's Death Master File. Requires an individual's full name and SSN. Submitting a DMF search will emit a DMFSearch.submitted webhook event. Once the search is completed, a DMFSearch.completed webhook event will be emitted.

Results can also be retrieved using GET /dmf/searches/{id} using the request UUID returned from the initial POST request.

Response Structure

An example of a completed DMF search will look like this:

{
  "id": "a1ad1dab-d87f-4160-a7e4-a966dbe0294a",
  "code": "DMF",
  "count": 1,
  "details": [
    {
      "dmf_id": "XXXXXXX",
      "ssn": "XXXXXXXXX",
      "name": "XXXXXXXXXXX",
      "death_date": "1983-11-01",
      "death_date_precision": "MONTH",
      "birth_date": "1908-08-05",
      "birth_date_precision": "DAY",
      "state_of_residency": null,
      "zip_code_of_residency": null
    }
  ],
  "state": "COMPLETED",
  "error": null
}

While most of these fields are self-evident, it is worth noting the death_date_precision and birth_date_precision fields. Death records prior to 2000 may contain only the month and year. So the _precision fields, in this example, indicate the the date of death can only be narrowed down to November, 1983, while the date of birth can be narrowed to the specific date.

FAQs

What is the Death Master File?

The Death Master File (DMF) from the Social Security Administration (SSA) is a data source that contains more than 94 million records. The “file” is created from internal SSA records of deceased persons possessing social security numbers and whose deaths were reported to the SSA . It is important to note our records are not a comprehensive record of all deaths in the country.

How frequently is Baselayer's Death Master File updated?

Updates occur on a weekly basis.