Why cann't I find my father in the socil security death index.?

Question

My father passed away several years ago and was receiving socil security but his name does not come up in their index. I call the court house in the county where he died and his estate has never been in probate. Could this be another trick on my stepmothers part to keep me from finding out what was in the will? I live in the midwest and they lived in AZ so I have no info as to what they had other than I know that there were several business ventures.

Answer 1

Some suggestions (1) is your mother still alive, if so she can go to the Social Security and apply for a widow's portion of his SS (2) If your father had a living trust (which is what I have) when he died the estate would have automatically gone to the person he named in the trust w/o going thru probate. (3) if you know the name of any of his businesses, have a property search done on them to f/o which attorney handled the sale at his death (this attorney was probably the one who wrote his will if he had 1). (4) Hire an attorney in his town and state to see what he can find. Even with a living trust there must be a paper trail.

Answer 2

Death Record Search Database : http://DeathRecordsInfo.com/Help