# Need Deceased Social Security Number **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 30, 2015, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860 "2015-06-30T09:04:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 9:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/1 "2015-06-30T09:04:34Z")
I’m trying to order my spouse’s father’s military replacement medals and records. They ask for the Social Security Number and Service Number. I ordered this for someone in my family five years ago, and I got the SSN from Roots Web for free, but the site is no longer providing this service. I can’t even recall them asking for the service number, and if they did, I have no idea how I came up with it. Any tips on that would be helpful, but I’ll deal with that later if I have to. Does anyone know where I can get the ssn for someone that died in 1999? I think I found the last four on one site, but they blocked the first five…I don’t feel like paying for something that used to be free and is supposedly a public record. I also tried searching this forum if case anyone had asked before, but I only got “website cannot display this page,” so sorry if this has been asked and answered before. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/2 "2015-06-30T09:10:33Z")
Have you tried phoning the Social Security Administration directly - with his full name, birth date and death date in hand? They might not just give you the number over the phone, but surely they could tell you what your next (free) step should be to find out. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/3 "2015-06-30T10:33:04Z")
It’s not on the death certificate? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/4 "2015-06-30T10:59:13Z")
I did this 12 years ago and it wasn’t free. Don’t know how you did it. But, now that I remember, I wanted a copy of his Social Security _application_. That’s why it wasn’t free in my case. added: I just searched _ancestry_ for my dad’s SS# and it said that they now don’t give that for persons who died in the last ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Pai325](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pai325](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pai325)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/5 "2015-06-30T13:00:50Z")
I use this site. [FamilySearch.org](https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535) It just worked for someone who died in 2012. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/6 "2015-06-30T13:32:10Z")
You just need the Social Security Death Index. It’s available through a ton of pay services you can get through many libraries and such, or in a few free spots. If you need help with it, PM me the details and I’m sure I can find it for you. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/7 "2015-06-30T14:23:31Z")
Are SS numbers re-assigned? How long after the original recipient dies? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/8 "2015-06-30T14:38:23Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Are SS numbers re-assigned? How long after the original recipient dies? They are not re-assigned at this time. > [@](#): > > Q19: How many Social Security numbers have been issued since the program started? > > A: Social Security numbers were first issued in November 1936. To date, 453.7 million different numbers have been issued. > Q20: Are Social Security numbers reused after a person dies? > > A: No. We do not reassign a Social Security number (SSN) after the number holder’s death. Even though we have issued over 453 million SSNs so far, and we assign about 5 and one-half million new numbers a year, the current numbering system will provide us with enough new numbers for several generations into the future with no changes in the numbering system. > **[Social Security History](https://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html)** > > The Official History Website for the U.S. Social Security Administration. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/9 "2015-06-30T14:46:25Z")
> [@gazpacho](#): > > They are not re-assigned at this time. > [Social Security History](http://www.ssa.gov/history/hfaq.html) Thanks. So the story about Obama assigned a SS number previously used is incorrect? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/10 "2015-06-30T15:20:45Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Thanks. So the story about Obama assigned a SS number previously used is incorrect? That’s a new one for me, but, unsurprisingly, [yes, of course it’s bs.](http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/birthers/ssn.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/11 "2015-06-30T15:30:51Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > You just need the Social Security Death Index. It’s available through a ton of pay services you can get through many libraries and such, or in a few free spots. If you need help with it, PM me the details and I’m sure I can find it for you. The SSDI is not a complete list. I know this because I contacted the SSA to find out why my father is not listed on such indexes. Their reply was that those lists are nowhere near being complete, not official, and that the actual complete list is not released by the SSA to any private entity. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/12 "2015-06-30T15:42:05Z")
Oh, yeah, it’s not complete at all but it usually suffices. ---
**Author:** ![qualityleashdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/9f8e36/32.png) [@qualityleashdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/qualityleashdog)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2015, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-deceased-social-security-number/723860/13 "2015-06-30T17:05:12Z")
[http://ssdmf.info/](http://ssdmf.info/) I found what I needed on this site. This site uses the Death Master File edition of 30 November 2011. You can search by name, you select first letter, then you have to click from “last name” to “last name” that your last name falls between until you’ve narrowed down to one page with the entries then you can ctrl-f your person. I tried the ancestry link above from another poster, but that only gave me what you could get basically get on find-a-grave, no ssn. This index gave the ssn and the last four matched with what a pay site teased me with.