Death Master File

What it means

The Death Master File is compiled from death reports received by the Social Security Administration and made available in limited and public versions.

Insurers are required by many states to compare their policy records against it periodically and to make an effort to find beneficiaries of policies that match.

It is not complete. A death that was never reported to Social Security, or that was reported with a mismatched name or number, may not appear.

Why it matters

It is the mechanism behind unclaimed life insurance benefits being found and paid without anybody asking, and behind a state's unclaimed property program holding money for a family that never knew about a policy.

It also occasionally makes the opposite error: a living person recorded as dead, which takes real work to correct.

When you are likely to meet it

• When searching for a life insurance policy nobody can find.
• When an insurer contacts a family unprompted.
• When accounts are frozen because a death was reported in error.

How this varies by state

Whether an insurer must run comparisons against the file, how often, and what it must do with a match are set by state law.

Related terms

• Cash surrender valueWhat a permanent life insurance policy is worth if it is cashed in during the insured person's lifetime.
• EscheatWhat happens when property nobody has claimed is handed to the state. In most cases the state holds it as custodian for the owner rather than taking ownership of it.
• Group life insuranceLife insurance provided through an employer, union or association rather than bought individually.
• Lapsed policyA life insurance policy that has ended because premiums were not paid — sometimes without anybody realizing.
• Life policy locatorA free search service run by the insurance regulators, which asks participating insurers whether a person held a policy.
• Lump-sum death paymentA one-off Social Security payment to a surviving spouse or, in some cases, a dependent child.
• Retained asset accountAn account an insurer opens in the beneficiary's name instead of sending a check, holding the life insurance proceeds until they are drawn.
• Social Security overpayment after a deathA benefit is not payable for the month somebody dies, and anything paid after has to go back.
• Unclaimed propertyMoney and accounts a business has lost touch with the owner of, turned over to a state which then holds it indefinitely.

Sahvelo guidance that uses this

• Finding life insurance
• Unclaimed property