If you wanted to find out if someone had died...

[LolaLouise]

And you had no way to contact immediate family as they are all blocked on phone/social media for legitimate reasons, where would you start...?

My ex husband has been paying CMS via deduction from his benefit for a long time, there is no way this man has gotten employment, however cms payments have stopped for the past 3 months.

Contacting his family is a no go due to the abusive nature of the relationship and their behaviour during the marriage. I dont know any of his friends etc as its been 10 years since the marriage ended. He has been n/c with our children the entire time through his own choices too. I have no current or even previous addresses for him. I can see his social media but what is public hasnt been changed since around 2017.

I cant think of any other reason why cms payments would have stopped, they cant update me all they can say is they havent received a payment for 3 months to pass on to me. If he had a job which is why the nov stopped (unlikely) then the recalculation based of a wage would have happened by now too, and theres nothing there.

Where would you start with this information?

Put his details into ancestry.co.uk and look at the public records for births, marriages and deaths in the UK.

Maybe he’s in prison, gone abroad?

prison was my other guess but i found nothing that way either and that appears easier to search

If his disability benefits had stopped because he failed to return a form or go to an assessment that would stop the CMS deduction from his benefits.

Push CMS. It shouldn’t take them long to ‘look into it’ (I worked there briefly). Ask your MP to push them.

They’ll be able to tell you if benefits have stopped because he died or if they’ve just stopped.

Unfortunately you often have to push them ridiculously hard to do anything

If you know where he was located you can ring tbt local registrar and ask to buy a copy of the death certificate and given them the dates you think he died (between the last payment and second missed payment I’d give them) and they will look for one.

but honestly CMS should have told you by now.

There is a site that lists deaths. You need to have the name of the person and the area they were from. If you don't know the year of death you will need to go through a lot of pages.

I have used it a few times but can never find it without a lot of searching. Will see if I can find it for you.

Given you have a valid interest in knowing and he is on benefits, you try enquiring of the DWP.

Or pay an agency like Finders International (we use them to search for people for my work).

I haven't found the one I used, but this might help (ignore the wills bit).

https://wills.services/how-to-find-out-if-a-person-is-deceased-online

Could he just have been sanctioned/had benefits stopped...?

Im currently on hold to CMS again and will ask the outright if the payments have stopped because he has died/gone to prison if they hold that information

At this point, I'd have a friend call his family member and outright ask where he is. Your children have a right to know if their father is alive and you have a right to some kind of support if he is.

I figured it would be sorted sooner if that were the case, initially i thought that, but the one i have been notified of today that is to be missed will be the 4th missed payment, and I cant see him going that long with no money before resolving any issues

Just to warn you, I found out someone had died by googling and it's pretty shocking so just be prepared for that, no matter what the relationship had been like.

Can you search here? It wants me to create and account so I haven't followed through the website https://www.gov.uk/order-copy-birth-death-marriage-certificate#:~:text=You%20need%20to%20register%20on,the%20GRO%20index%20reference%20number.

Not helpful to the OP but it's really easy in Ireland pretty much every death seems to get registerd on RIP.IE

I would message a relative and say you're trying to get hold of him

Obituary section in local newspaper?

I am NC with my family and I periodically google to see if I can find any obituaries.

CMS have said they still haven't contacted the DWP for clarification, however she has put a note on saying i am "concerned" and to update me once they have information, and that they will call today or tomorrow, however im not holding my breath.

With a mutual acquaintance's permission, we have set up a new (fake) profile in their name and added him and some family on SM to see if there is anything there if they accept the request.

Search sites dont appear to have recent data, even the search on the gov certificates sites only allows for 2021 or earlier

Search sites dont appear to have recent data, even the search on the gov certificates sites only allows for 2021 or earlier

You can search the GRO for a death entry, but data for the last 6 months is not available.

This is precisely the sort of thing a private detective is for (despite the image people have of them from TV).
You could do all the legwork yourself (search death registers etc.) but ultimately you want to know what's happened to him and, if he's still alive, start receiving payments again. And, if he is dead, then you'll presumably want to establish if your children will receive any inheritance.
Private detectives know where to look and have access to things like the unedited electoral roll. Most deaths don't result in an inquest and death notices in local papers are increasingly uncommon so your options for finding him yourself are a little limited. The exception is if he died in Scotland as all death registrations are a matter of public record.
In your position I'd ring a private detective in my area, explain what you want to achieve, and they can give you a ballpark figure for what it might cost to establish what's happened.

Whilst this is a great idea, i cant really justify it given i am solely financially responsible for 3 teenagers now, not that the £29 a month i was receiving made any dent in the cost of raising them when i did get it

Thanks, ive figured out how to search properly now, but as you say i can only view up to July 2023 which isn't much help at the moment, but thank you.

Why not search births, deaths and marriages? It's all public information

At this point you should ask CMS for their complaints procedure, and ask your MP to chase them. There is absolutely no justifiable reason that after 3 missed payments they haven't spoken to the DWP. It's a very quick thing to do. They really are fucking useless.

It takes a fair bit of time for the search sites to catch up. Calling his local registrar to enquire about a death cert would be the only way to go down that route for something this recent.

You shouldn't have to do any of that though - CMS should have already told you if he's dead or if his benefits have just stopped.

It takes time for the searchable records to update. Something in the last 3 months won't be easily searchable yet.